Nothing was easy for the Fayetteville-Manlius and East Syracuse-Minoa girls lacrosse teams on the opening Saturday of the 2012 season.
F-M, facing a tough early slate that includes back-to-back games this week against West Genesee and Skaneateles, first had to go through overtime to get past Pittsford Sutherland 10-9.
In its first home game on the new artificial turf field installed last summer, the Hornets trailed, 5-4, at halftime, but rallied to forge an 8-8 tie before the end of regulation. Each team scored once in the first of two three-minute overtime periods, but F-M managed the only goal in the second extra session, and held on from there.
Mostly, it was a three-pronged attack, with Marri Ryu, Cara Esposito and Lindsey Trachtenberg each finishing with three goals. McKenna Everding had the other tally as Esposito added an assist. Steph Rutkowski was superb in the net, recording 15 saves.
East Syracuse-Minoa had its own close call on Saturday – but like F-M, the Spartans emerged a victory, toppling its namesakes from New Hartford 10-9.
Here, ESM was quite strong at the start, roaring to a 7-2 halftime lead. Behind Ashley Chanatry’s four-goal effort, New Hartford roared back and nearly caught up at the end of regulation.
It took Haley DeVona, Samantha Dooling and Nikki DeVona each producing two goals and one assist for ESM to stay in front. Alex McEachron, Rachel Toole, Sara Hennessey and Morgan Young earned single goals.
It all started on Thursday when Jamesville-DeWitt’s girls team, carrying high ambitions this spring after a 12-10 defeat to Oswego in last year’s Class B semifinal, toyed with Whitesboro in a 16-2 rout of the Warriors.
Throughout the first half, the Red Rams attacked at will and didn’t let up until it had accumulated a 12-1 lead. Kayleigh Cavanaugh, fresh off leading the J-D girls basketball team to its first Section III title since 1998, led the way with five goals and one assist.
Taylor Bierwagen set up many of those scoring plays, earning five assists to go with her lone goal. Lauren Beville, Sonia Narsipur and Taylor Fallon each found the net twice, with Beville adding two assists. Caitlin Cariseo had a goal and two assists as Natalie Antosh and Carly Stone earned the other goals.
Christian Brothers Academy’s girls team, the defending state Class C champions, begins play this week, going to Skaneateles on Saturday for a rematch of last spring’s sectional final, won by the Brothers 12-8 on the way to the big prize.
