Urgency, and a reminder of what had worked earlier this season, helped the Cazenovia girls lacrosse team secure a return trip to the Section III Class C playoffs.
The Lakers carried a 6-8 record into last Monday’s game against Marcellus at the Sean Googin Sports Complex, and it still needed a win here, or in Wednesday’s regular-season finale against Homer, to get a post-season ticket.
As it turned out, Cazenovia didn’t want to wait, as a strong effort in all phases of the game, especially in the first half, led to an 11-7 victory over the Mustangs.
Adding to the Lakers’ confidence was the fact that it had shut down Marcellus before, even though it lost a narrow 5-4 decision on the Mustangs’ home turf back on April 2.
All through the early stages, Marcellus got overwhelmed as the determined Lakers steadily built an 8-2 lead. Kayla Dorrance set things up, working her way to a career-best six assists as she fed it to Caroline Franz, who had four goals, and Colleen Dougherty, who scored three times.
Then it was up to the Lakers’ defense to protect that margin. Marcellus would fare better in the second half, but not do enough as Cazenovia forced turnovers and saw its goalie, Lauren Devine, pick up five crucial saves.
Aside from Franz and Dougherty, four different Cazenovia players – Becca Wheeler, Emmajean Speer, Emily Willard and Kristie Kleine – picked up the four goals. No Mustang player had more than the two goals put up by Maura Gosson and Molly McGuane.
This took all the pressure off Wednesday’s game against Homer, and while the defense was not as sharp this time around, it didn’t need to be as the Lakers beat the Trojans 17-10.
Cazenovia reached double digits on the board and doubled up Homer’s production in a 10-5 first half, and never let the Trojans catch up as Dorrance continued to be generous, earning five assists this time around.
And the attack was well-balanced, as Dougherty, Franz, Wheeler and Kleine each gained three-goal hat tricks, with Franz adding two assists. Speer threw in two goals as Kathryn Costello, Jessy Silfer and Kelsey Henderson had one goal apiece.
