Within hours of each other last Tuesday night, the Marcellus and Westhill girls lacrosse team, playing important early-season contests, met with wildly varying degrees of success.
The Mustangs, in a rematch of last May’s Section III Class C final, was overwhelmed in an 18-8 defeat to Skaneateles, while the Warriors played superb defense and used that as the foundation to beat visiting Cazenovia 10-7.
While Marcellus has plenty of talented players back from 2013, Skaneateles returns close to everyone that was important to the Lakers’ push to the state Class C title game a season ago, and it is strong in every phase of the game.
The Mustangs did grab an early 2-1 lead on Skaneateles on goals from Ally Burrows and Grace Hunt just 43 seconds apart. After that, though, it was all Lakers.
Molly Wood and Alana Navaroli controlled the draw circle, giving Skaneateles a series of possessions, and it took full advantage, pouring in six unanswered goals in a span of slightly more than three minutes. Two of those goals, by Wood and Navaroli, were nine seconds apart.
Though the Lakers slowed down for a while, it closed the first half with another decisive rush. Back-to-back goals from Wood, along with goals from Navaroli and Sears just before the horn, stretched out the Skaneateles lead to 12-3 by halftime.
Not letting up, Skaneateles made it 18-4 at one point late in the second half before the Lakers pulled much of its starting lineup, allowing for the Mustangs to make a late surge.
Burrows finished with three goals, while Hunt and Audrey Cerrone each scored twice and Genna Rao added a late goal. For Skaneateles, Powers finished with four goals as Sears, Wood and Navaroli each got three goals. These two sides meet again May 7 at Hyatt Stadium.
Westhill would get its shot at Skaneateles on Thursday night, but met with the same frustrations as Marcellus in a 13-2 defeat to the Lakers. Not once in the first half did the Warriors get on the board, falling behind 9-0 before earning first goal nearly four minutes into the second half.
Lydia Gosson and Liz McAnaney had the goals, with Esther Clifford and Morgan Hayes combining for 10 saves in goal. Sears (three goals, two assists), Wood (three goals) and Nicole Beatson (two goals, two assists) led the Lakers along.
Before that, Westhill put together an impressive all-around effort against Cazenovia, beating those other Lakers 10-7. From a 1-1 tie, Westhill seized control midway through the first half with three unanswered goals, keeping the Lakers off the board until late in the half.
That margin grew to 9-3 early in the second half before Westhill went cold, allowing Cazenovia to cut that lead in half. Again, though, the Warriors’ defense settled down and mostly contained the Lakers the rest of the way.
Amid a well-balanced attack, Haleigh Farrell, Natalie Jetter and Liz McAnaney each scored twice. Shelby Stack and Tatiana Monds both picked up one goal and one assist, while Sophia Dower had the other goal. Cazenovia got two goals apiece from Grace Milmoe and Sarah Willard.
Following its loss to Skaneateles, Marcellus met Jordan-Elbridge Thursday night and quickly got back into winning form, defeating the Eagles 16-7.
This was J-E’s season opener, and at the outset its attack was effective. The only problem was that it couldn’t keep the Mustangs off the board, and would trail 9-5 at the half before Marcellus wore the Eagles down in the latter stages.
Nolan finished with 10 points, stemming from five goals and five assists. Her passes often went to Burrows and Maddie Conklin, who finished with four goals apiece. Cerrone, Rao and Keelin Kelly had the other goals. On J-E’s side, Marissa Malvaso led the way, scoring three times, while Gabby Thorpe got a pair of goals.
And in Saturday’s game against General Brown, the Mustangs (3-1) topped the Lions 14-8, building most of its margin in a 9-5 first half and producing enough despite a game effort from GB’s Bryanna Fazio, who led her side with four goals.
Cerrone led all individuals with five goals, but Nolan again was the focal point, amassing five assists to go with her four goals. Burrows scored twice as Conklin, Kelly and Molly Tice managed single goals.
Bishop Ludden/Bishop Grimes got into the win column Friday with a 19-2 romp over Clinton, notching 14 of those goals in the first half of a one-sided affair.
Gemma O’Kane led the charge, finishing with seven goals and one assist. Teresa Shattuck had four goals and two assists, while Jenn Vazquez got a three-goal hat trick. Stephanie Brazell scored twice as Julia Catalano, Nicole Granteed and Seanna Laneve earned single goals and Granteed managed a pair of assists.
