Frolicking in wet and cold conditions, the Chittenango girls lacrosse team moved its mark to 4-5 last Tuesday night with a 9-2 victory over New Hartford.
Since the raw conditions slowed things down, the Bears showed a lot of patience on its way to a 5-2 halftime lead, then used its defense as an anchor as it shut out the Spartans in the second half. Emily Murray stopped 11 of the 13 shots she faced.
Meanwhile, Jenna Barber ignored the conditions to post four goals, while Jessica Antelmi found the net twice. Kayla Haynes, Brittany McDonald and Jamie Gibbons each scored once, with Tess Piraino and Maggie Kendrick adding assists.
Two nights later, the Bears were home again, this time to meet East Syracuse-Minoa, and did not have similar success in a 10-6 loss to those other Spartans.
With wind and rain whipping through Bear Country, Chittenango got just the kind of conditions it needed to slow ESM down. In addition, the Spartans did not have one of its top scorers, Allyson Rossi, in the lineup.
The Bears were within one, 5-4, at halftime, but could not make the sustained push it needed to catch up as Antelmi and Piraino both had two goals. Kendrick earned three assists as Barber and Ellen Heenan also scored.
Though Murray had nine saves, ESM’s two-player attack still pulled through, as Carissa Ficarro earned five goals and Gina Campese found the net four times.
In Saturday’s game at Tully, the Bears got close again, but got beat late in a 7-6 loss to the Black Knights.
Both sides excelled on defense, and Chittenango edged into a 4-3 lead by halftime. It stayed close mostly due to Barber, who had four of her team’s goals as McDonald got the other two tallies.
Tully hung in there, though, and tied it before Courtney DeOrdio broke the tie on a goal with 1:15 left in regulation, her second of the day.
Having fallen to 4-7 on the season, Chittenango went to Whitesboro on Tuesday and hosts Fulton on Thursday night.
