Eleven seconds – all the time it took for Katie Webster to put her Christian Brothers Academy girls lacrosse team in front of Skaneateles in Friday night’s Section III Class C-1 final against Skaneateles at Solvay’s Earl Hadley Stadium. That would be the only time the Brothers would find itself ahead of the Lakers.
Completely reversing what took place earlier in the month, Skaneateles shook off that initial hit and struck back with a near-perfect effort that saw CBA, the top seed, fall by a score of 12-6 as its championship quest fell one win short. That first meeting, on May 3 at Alibrandi Stadium, saw CBA fall behind 2-0 early, then smother the Lakers the rest of the way and win by a comfortable 15-8 margin. Everything was different here, though. Skaneateles, far more accustomed to playing in championship games, gave the younger CBA squad a game-long lesson. Following that initial Webster strike, CBA went more than 17 minutes before it scored again. The Lakers’ defense used speed and aggressiveness to pursue Webster and the rest of the Brothers’ front line. Meanwhile, a refined Lakers attack benefited from Diane Vitkus winning a majority of the draws. Vitkus also joined teammate Carly Davis as they both scored four goals, Vitkus earning two of those tallies in a 4-0 spurt early in the second half that, essentially, put the game away. Webster, in her last high-school game before heading to Syracuse University, had three goals, while Taylor Poplawski, Sophie Racciatti and Michelle Wiese got the other goals. Key players like Taylor Gait, Caroline Webster and Marissa Romeo never got on the board. Skaneateles advanced to face defending champion Carthage Tuesday at SUNY-Cortland for the overall Class C title, while CBA finished at 17-2, returning everyone but Katie Webster next year. As this was going on, East Syracuse-Minoa, the no. 3 seed in Class B, saw its season end with a 14-12 defeat to Oswego at Henninger High School’s Sunnycrest Field. In reality, the Spartans never recovered from a rough first half against the Buccaneers, who spent the entire regular season facing Class A foes in the CNY Counties League. Oswego bolted out to a 9-4 halftime lead. Battling all the way to the end, ESM cut down on the margin, but could not quite catch up as the Bucs advanced to Tuesday’s Class B final against defending champion Watertown. Nikki Devona led the Spartans with four goals and one assist. Allyson Rossi scored three times, while Marlee Vlassis had two goals. Lauren Greiner, Alex McEachron and Alyssa Anderalli each had one goal, with Alayna Davis adding an assist. Katie Cook made 10 saves. Oswego’s Taylor Giglio led her side with four goals, with three others – Samantha McCarrick (three goals), Amanda D’Amico and Nicole Paulhardt (two goals each) – earning multiple tallies.