For the Jamesville-DeWitt girls lacrosse team, the Section III Class C playoffs was as much a proving ground as it was an opportunity for a championship.
Even a 16-0 regular season had not quieted the whispers that the Red Rams had dominated an OHSL Freedom division without as much competition as other leagues.
J-D sought to disprove that point, in earnest, during Wednesday night’s Class C-1 semifinal at CBA’s Alibrandi Stadium against no. 3 seed Marcellus, who came from the OHSL Liberty division and had blasted Chittenango 21-7 in the opening round.
The Rams almost pulled it off — but in a thrilling contest, it could not build any kind of lead, allowing for the Mustangs to rally and prevail 14-13 to put an abrupt end to J-D’s title dreams.
It really was two games thrown into one — a wild first half where the offenses did whatever it wanted, followed by a second half of strategy, intrigue and better defense that came down to a pair of pivotal shots.
Twice in the early going, J-D fell behind, by margins of 2-0 and 4-2, only to quickly catch up and tie it, the only times either side would lead by more than one goal the entire game.
Taylor Bierwagen led that second resurgence, and her third goal gave the Rams its first lead at 5-4, the first of four occasions in the opening half where J-D would move ahead.
Each time, though, Marcellus pulled back even, the defenses on either side helpless to stop anything as there were eight ties in the first half alone, and 11 overall.
Even then Tori Nies converted with 18.2 seconds left in the half to even things again, the Mustangs’ Megan Burrows answered just 2.1 seconds before the break.
That finally seemed to startle the Rams’ defense to life. For the first 13-plus minutes of the second half, J-D kept Marcellus off the board as Taryn Dausman, Lauren Beville, Katie Heil and Catherine Daly offered up strong resistance, and Tara Prosak worked toward her total of 10 saves.
Two goals by Nies 32 seconds apart early in the half put J-D ahead 12-11, and after the Mustangs tied it once more, Nies came back to convert with 6:23 to play, only to have Nora Barry answer 18 seconds later for yet another deadlock at 13-13.
So it remained until the crashing climax. With 1:50 left, Barry, drawing a free-position shot, fired it past Prosak, her fifth goal of the day to go with two assists.
J-D forced a turnover, then set itself in perfect position for a point-blank shot with a minute to play, only to see Marcellus goalie Renee Poullot make a spectacular stop, her 14th save of the game. The Mustangs cleared the ball from its own end, then ran out the clock.
Aside from Nies, who, like Barry, had five goals and two assists, Bierwagen (four goals, one assist) and Liz Beville (two goals, three assists) led the way, with West scoring twice. Leea Sinay (four goals), Erin Walter (two goals, two assists) and Meghan Connors (five assists) offered Barry the support on the Mustangs’ side.
