At the start, the Skaneateles girls lacrosse team were happy to get another shot at Christian Brothers Academy Thursday night at Alibrandi Stadium, more than a month after their first encounter went to four overtimes.
By the time the game was done, though, the Lakers were just as happy to get out of CBA with a win, 13-11, in a game where it saw a huge second-half lead come close to melting away.
Skaneateles got most of its motivation from that April 19 game when, in a steady rain, the Lakers overcame deficits in both regulation and overtime before Taylor Gait’s goal in the fourth OT allowed CBA to prevail 11-10.
What was different here, among other things, was that Gait, along with CBA defender Natasha Grant, were both out for the season after suffering torn ACLs earlier this month. Even without them, though, the Brothers had ripped Marcellus 15-9 a night before the Skaneateles rematch.
Right from the opening face-off, though, the Lakers outplayed the Brothers, proving aggressive in all phases of the game. Skaneateles won a majority of the draws and chased the Brothers all over the field, winning most of the races for ground balls, too.
From a 3-3 tie, the Lakers used goals by Erin Callahan and Emma Ford 50 seconds apart to move in front, and added three more goals in a row to expand the margin to 8-3. From there, it was an exchange until Carly Davis picked up a ground ball and beat CBA goalie Courtney Henderson 6.3 seconds before halftime to make it 10-5 at the break.
Armed with momentum from that goal, the Lakers struck three more times early in the second half as Ford and Alana Navaroli converted before Shelby McNeilly hit on her fourth goal, which made it 13-5. And Skaneateles would not score again on this night.
Midway through the half, CBA started to rally, picking up its own pace and starting to win the draws with regularity. It pulled off six straight goals, and not even a time-out the Lakers called could curb that momentum.
Marisa Romeo cut the margin to two with 1:46 to play, more than enough time to catch up. But on the ensuing draw, Davis hustled and won the ground ball, allowing Skaneateles to run out the rest of the clock and finish the regular season with an 11-5 mark.
