At the start of its toughest regular-season stretch, the Westhill girls lacrosse team found a familiar result in last Monday’s home date against Skaneateles.
For the second time in as many months, the Warriors went to overtime with the Lakers — and just like the first meeting, Westhill won, this time a 13-9 verdict.
The end margin was quite deceptive, for little separated the two sides in regulation. At one point in the first half, Westhill led 4-2, but even with a long series of Skaneateles turnovers, it couldn’t pull away, only leading 4-3 at halftime.
All through the second half, it stayed tight. Five times, Westhill led by one, and every time Skaneateles would come back to tie it.
So it was in the last minute of regulation. Double-teamed, Caroline Buonocore found an open Mackenzie Rainone, and she converted with 58.7 seconds left to push the Warriors to an 8-7 lead.
Still, as regulation time wound down, Skaneaeteles forward Lindsay Angelillo got the ball, ran through defenders, fell down, got up and somehow flung a shot past Morgan Roach into the net with 5.7 seconds to play, tying it 8-8.
Now in overtime (just as it was in their 11-10 win on April 9), Annie O’Connor took charge. She scored twice in the first three-minute period to put Westhill up for good, 10-8, then added another goal at the end of the second OT after Sam Marshall and Erika Eipp converted.
Three of O’Connor’s four goals came in the extra periods, as Eipp had three goals and three assists and Marshall also got a three-goal hat trick. Mackenzie and Brenna Rainone combined for five assists, each scoring once as Emily Haggarty also scored. Angelillo and Maddy Morrissey each had three goals to lead the Skaneateles effort.
Even with this, big games await later in the week, as the Warriors host Marcellus Friday and go to Cazenovia early next week.
