Following some early-season woes, the Fayetteville-Manlius and Jamesville-DeWitt girls lacrosse team both found their stride in time for a head-to-head showdown.
That would take place on Saturday afternoon, and with the rain holding off, the Hornets used a strong second-half effort on the defensive side to slide past the Red Rams 8-7.
During the first 25 minutes, J-D held up well, and inched into a 5-4 lead. But it only managed two goals the rest of the way, giving F-M ample time to pull out in front and stay there.
Olivia Tejan scored three times for a hat trick, adding an assist. Julie Neuberger got two goals, while Mary Trop had one goal and one assist. Jane Cote and Meg Kincaid had the other goals.
On J-D’s side, Caroline Kopp and Carly Stone got two goals apiece, with Kopp contributing an assist. Bess Murad, Grace Hulslander and Meghan Byrnes gained single tallies. Cameron Buck made eight saves, one more than Hornets counterpart Aubrey Deveau.
Before that, F-M kept up its hot play in last Monday’s game at Oswego with a nice all-around effort, especially on defense, throughout a 12-3 romp over the Buccaneers.
The Hornets gave up just one first-half goals, and remained stingy due to the poise of Deveau and Bobbey McCarthy, who combined to stop 11 of the 14 shots he faced.
Tejan, as she would with J-D, picked up three goals and one assist. Trop, Cote, Allison Macrae and Amanda Cramer each scored twice, with Macrae and Cote adding assists. Jamison Seabury earned the other goal and Carly Primo contributed an assist.
Just 24 hours later, playing the combined Syracuse city squad, the Hornets’ hot streak continued as, with a strong second half, it prevailed by a score of 14-10.
They were tied, 7-7, at halftime, but F-M saved its best work for the latter stages, pulling in front behind Trop’s career-best five goals.
Seabury, with three goals and one assist, provided plenty of help. Tejan and Cote each got two goals and one assist, with Primo and Macrae both finishing with one goal and one assist. Syracuse lost despite five goals from Karen Boronczyk and four goals from Sam Downs.
In a tough non-league game against Cazenovia Thursday night at Cazenovia College’s Christakos Field, the Hornets again started well, but this time went cold in the late going and took a 10-5 defeat to the Lakers.
At one point late in the first half, the Hornets led 4-1, and still enjoyed a 5-3 lead at halftime thanks to Trop’s pair of goals as Primo, Tejan and Neuberger each got one assist.
But F-M never scored again, stymied by a tough Cazenovia defense anchored by goalie Zantha Hourigan, who gained seven saves. Meanwhile, the Lakers zoomed out in front by the middle of the second half and stayed there behind Audrey Burbidge, who had the tying and go-ahead tallies and earned four of her five goals after the break.
J-D had used a terrific first-half performance to push past Homer 10-5 last Monday, the game decided when the Red Rams raced out to a 6-1 halftime lead, giving it a cushion against all of the Trojans’ charges in the late going.
Stone had three goals and one assist, with Lizzie O’Brien scoring twice. Hulslander managed a goal and two assists, with Byrnes and Alyssa Phillips each getting one goal and one assist. Kopp and Julia Slisz earned assists and Neugebauer gained the other goal. Buck stopped 12 of the 17 shots she faced.
On Thursday, J-D moved above the .500 mark (6-5), at least for the moment, and kept rolling with a 15-5 victory over Whitesboro, where Stone improved to five goals as Neugebauer and Huslander both finished with three goals and one assist. Kopp had a goal and two assists as Jessica Wipper, Bess Murad and Amber Hyatt also found the net.
