As expected, the Marcellus girls lacrosse team saw that its 14-2 regular-season mark translated into a no. 2 seed for the Section III Class C playoffs.
The Mustangs have a first-round bye in the 12-team tournament, and watched on Saturday as no. 7 seed Onondaga, in its first-ever post-season appearance, beat no. 10 Watertown IHC 9-5 in the opening round.
That means the Tigers will take on Marcellus Tuesday night in the Class C quarterfinals. The winner of that game goes to Thursday’s semifinal at Liverpool High School Stadium against South Jefferson or Tully, with the title game next Tuesday at the Carrier Dome.
Tully, the no. 6 seed, got there by ending Jordan-Elbridge’s season. The no. 11 seed Eagles, who had worked so hard down the stretch just to get into the playoffs, going 6-2 after a 1-8 start, ran out of steam in Saturday’s opening round, falling to the Black Knights 12-9.
These same two teams had met five days earlier, Tully winning 18-10, but J-E was ready for the rematch, matching goals with the Black Knights through much of the first half.
But with the score 5-5 late in the half, J-E went cold, and the Black Knights took full advantage, inching into a 7-5 lead. From there, the game turned into a chase, the Eagles unable to catch up because Tully kept finding different offensive contributors.
Most of J-E’s production came from two players, as Kelsey Youmell had four goals and two assists, while Kali Kimak earned a three-goal hat trick. Marissa Malvaso added a single tally.
In goal, Morgan Conroy had 11 saves, but it wasn’t quite enough. Tully got goals from seven different players, including Madison Lyon, who scored three times as Kristyn Drake (two goals, three assists), Ally McNerney (two goals, two assists) and Allison Bolt (two goals, one assist) were close behind. J-E finished its season with a 7-9 record.
