In a year full of adversity on and off the field, it figured that the Cazenovia girls lacrosse team’s final act of the 2010 season involved one more crisis.
The Lakers gave up the first eight goals of Monday night’s Section III Class C-2 quarterfinal against top seed Christian Brothers Academy, yet stayed in the battle until the second half before taking a 19-9 loss to the Brothers.
Just the fact that Cazenovia had made it this far was remarkable enough. To make the playoffs, the Lakers had to win three of its last four games. Then, in the first round of the C-2 playoffs on May 22, the Lakers trailed General Brown at halftime before coming back to beat the Lions 16-13.
In many ways, the team perfectly reflected one person who wasn’t on the field in body, but certainly in spirit.
Taylor Matt played for the varsity lacrosse Lakers before the recurrence of her leukemia in the fall galvanized the entire Cazenovia community.
In her honor, hundreds of purple “TayStrong” T-shirts have been sold, and as Matt continues her fight at Golisano Children’s Hospital, the team kept on fighting to play as long as possible – including this night.
CBA didn’t care much for sentiment on this night. Even without any points from All-American senior Katie Webster, the Brothers bolted to an 8-0 lead in the first 15 minutes as seven different players got those goals.
Finally, Colleen Dougherty and Katie Kleine broke up the string with two goals 33 seconds apart, and Becca Wheeler converted two seconds before halftime, making it 11-3.
Somehow, those goals seemed to spark Cazenovia into one more inspired run. Gabby Jaquith got three goals in a span of less than three minutes, and when Dougherty returned to score twice in 19 seconds, the Lakers were within five, 13-8, and more than 18 minutes remained.
That finally got CBA’s attention. Webster broke her silence with back-to-back goals, with Taylor Poplawski and Taylor Gait running their respective totals to four goals as the Brothers pulled away late.
So the Lakers’ season of lacrosse games is over – but its work is far from done.
On June 19, both lacrosse programs are hosting “Taystrong for Taylor” day at the Fenner Street complex, inviting everyone that bought purple T-shirts for a group aerial picture.
A representative of the Bone Marrow Registry will be present, too, as Taylor continues to search for a match so that she can undergo the bone marrow transplant she needs. More information can be found at taystrongfortaylor.com.
