In a single night, the Skaneateles girls soccer team got the message that, while it had the firepower and determination to reach the top of the OHSL Liberty and Section III Class B ranks, more work still remained to actually get there.
A scoreless first half between Skaneateles and Cazenovia in last Monday night’s clash at Hyatt Stadium transformed into a wild, back-and-forth second half, but when the final horn sounded, the host Lakers had lost, 3-2, to the visiting Lakers.
Cazenovia, like Skaneateles, was undefeated going into the week and featured, in Audrey Burbidge, a prime goal-scoring threat who had found the net eight times in her team’s first two games.
Right from the start, the pace was intense, but despite a bevy of opportunities on both sides, it remained 0-0, goalies Sophie Kush (for Skaneateles) and Maggie Johnson (for Cazenovia) making plenty of big stops. Then, in a manner of minutes early in the second half, Cazenovia stunned Skaneateles with back-to-back goals.
That only seemed to wake up the host Lakers, though, for it wasted little time pulling back even, 2-2, Emmeline Graham scoring in the 52nd minute off a pass from Tate Green to put her team on the board and then, in the 64th minute, Green scoring thanks to a feed from Catie Woodruff.
Now it was Cazenovia’s turn to prove its resilience, reclaiming the lead five minutes later and hanging on behind Johnson’s nine saves, the same total as Kush. And despite all the Skaneateles attempts to contain her, Burbidge still scored twice, with Clare Costello assisting on one of those scoring plays and earning the other goal.
Given a few days to recuperate, Skaneateles did so, and then went to the Niagara Falls area for another appearance in the Lewiston-Porter Tournament, where it would spilt two games.
In the opening round, the Lakers pulled away from host Lewiston-Porter, beating the Lancers 5-1. What was a close, 2-1 affair at halftime broke open in the final 40 minutes as the Skaneateles attack wore Lew-Port down.
Molly Newton went to the forefront, finishing with two goals and one assist, while Amanda Wetmore added a goal and two assists. Green and Woodruff had the other goals as Melissa Amory and Laurel Parker got credited for assists and Kush stopped seven of the eight shots she faced.
Pushed into Saturday’s final against Nardin Academy, Sknaeateles could not quite get the title, falling by a 2-1 margin. All of the goals came in the second half, though Lauren Goodchild’s tally, assisted by Newton, was all the Lakers could produce. Kush remained consistent, recording eight saves.
So the Lakers came back to Central New York with a 3-2 mark, hosting Hannibal on Monday before a Thursday-night visit to Solvay.
