With the no. 2 seed in the Section III Class B girls lacrosse playoffs, Marcellus could sit back, relax and watch the first round unfold, finding out Saturday that it would face no. 7 seed General Brown in Tuesday night’s quarterfinals following the Lions’ 16-11 first-round win over no. 10 seed Cortland.
And it watched two other local sides win as no. 5 seed Westhill, getting its first post-season victory in four years, upended no. 12 seed Mexico 12-6, a day before no. 11 seed Jordan-Elbridge went to no. 6 seed Homer and smashed past the Trojans 12-5.
Despite its modest seed, J-E was battle-tested, and that paid off against Homer in a big way, the Eagles keeping pace during the first half and inching in front, 4-3, before blowing away the Trojans with a tremendous second-half effort on both sides.
Miranda Malvaso, with four goals and one assist, and Gabby Thorpe, with four assists, led the way as Marissa Malvaso scored four times. Emily Kuehnle and Antonia Malvaso both finished with two goals and one assist, while Alexis Fietta had the other goals and Katie Goodrich earned two assists.
Despite all the pressure Homer threw at her, J-E goalie Morgan Conroy had a tremendous effort, earning 16 saves as the Eagles advanced to Tuesday’s quarterfinal against no. 3 seed South Jefferson.
Westhill, meanwhile, advanced to meet no. 4 seed LaFayette (who beat Vernon-Verona-Sherrill 21-1) by doubling up Mexico, building its winning margin during an 8-2 first half and then slowing things down to keep the Tigers from getting too close.
Haleigh Farrell, with three goals, was one of eight different Westhill players to find the net. Dana Radin scored twice, as did Lydia Gosson, with Shelby Stack and Sophie Dower each getting a goal and two assists. Natalie Jetter, Liz McAnaney and Jayanna Monds also scored. Ryann Laible added an assist. Goalie Morgan Hayes made five saves.
Marcellus and Westhill met last Monday night, and the state Class C no. 8-ranked Mustangs were pushed beyond the wire, into overtime, before it scraped out a 15-13 victory over the Warriors.
They ended the first half 6-6, and the second half also went 6-6, leaving the two sides deadlocked at 12-12 going to a pair of three-minute OT periods.
Only in that stretch did the Mustangs get away, with Grace Nolan scoring seven times and adding four assistts. Maddie Conklin had three goals and two assists, while Grace Hunt had two goals and four assists. Ally Burrows, Keelin Kelly and Audrey Cerrone had the other goals.
Meanwhile, Westhill got three-goal hat tricks from Dower and Stack, Dower adding a pair of assists. Laible and Tatiana Monds both scored twice, with Farrell, Gosson and Emily Kessler getting one goal apiece. Morgan Hayes recorded seven saves.
As that was going on, J-E was visiting Cazenovia and, getting a tremendous effort from Conroy, knocked off the Lakers 9-5.
Through a 2-2 first half, J-E could have easily fallen behind, but Conroy continued to make big stops, passing the 500-save mark for her career and turning back 16 of Cazenovia’s eventual 21 shots.
Finally, that effort was rewarded when the Eagles’ attack sprang to life in the second half. Alexis Malvaso had a three-goal hat trick, while Marissa Malvaso scored twice and added an assist.
Kuehnle also earned a pair of goals, with Fietta and Miranda Malvaso getting one goal apiece. Antonia Malvaso added an assist as Audrey Burbidge scored three of Cazenovia’s five goals.
J-E was glad to have that win in the books since high-powered Skaneateles was showing up Wednesday night, and the Eagles were, indeed, overwhelmed in a 20-5 loss to the Lakers.
It was 15-1 by halftime, J-E unable to match the overwhelming Skaneateles skill and speed that featured freshman star Kyla Sears (four goals) and Alana Navaroli (three goals, three assists). Still, Marissa Malvaso managed three goals and one assist, while Emily Somes and Alexis Switzer earned late goals and Thorpe added an assist.
Marcellus took its own visit to Cazenovia, a team it beat 14-9 back on April 28. The rematch was similar as, with a scoring burst late in the first half, the Mustangs roared to an 11-4 edge and went on to prevail by a score of 18-11.
Conklin continued her breakthrough campaign with six goals and two assists, while Laura Dailey stepped up for a season-best total of four goals. Nolan managed three goals, while Hunt had four assists to go with her lone goal. Cerrone added two goals as Kelly and Abby Vetsch also scored.
Far from all this, Bishop Ludden had Senior Night festivities prior to last Monday’s game against Onondaga, but didn’t let the occasion overwhelm them as the Gaelic Knights beat the Tigers 12-4.
In fact, Ludden, who led 7-3 at halftime, got better as the game went on, pulling clear behind a big night from Gemma O’Kane, who outscored OCS by herself with five goals, plus an assist.
Teresa Shattuck and Nicole Granteed both had three-goal hat tricks, Shattuck adding two assists. Seanna Laneve had the other goal and Jenn Vazquez managed an assist.
Ludden ended the regular season at Liverpool, and put up a real battle against the long-time Class A power before taking a 9-7 defeat to the Warriors.
It was 3-2 at the end of a low-scoring first half. Then, in the latter stages, the Gaelic Knights used a diverse attack to try and keep up with Liverpool, but could not quite pull it off as Kasi Cabrey (two goals, three assists) and Julia Sardella (three goals, one assist) led the Warriors.
On Ludden’s side, only Shattuck scored twice, adding an assist. Granteed, O’Kane, Brazell, Vazquez and Julia Catalano earned single goals, with Granteed and O’Kane adding assists.
With the no. 9 Class C playoff seed, Ludden would play Cazenovia Monday night at Cazenovia College, with the winner trying to upend top seed Skaneateles just 24 hours later in the quarterfinals, where Westhill, J-E and Marcellus will get their own shots at glory.
