No matter how it looked facing other top foes in the Section III Class C ranks, the Cazenovia girls lacrosse team knew that, ultimately, it would get measured by how it fared against that other group of Lakers with state championships on its resume.
When the two sides met at Cazenovia College’s Christakos Field last Tuesday, Skaneateles had the no. 3 state Class C ranking and Cazenovia the no. 10 state ranking, and it was fairly competitive for a while before Skaneateles got away late and prevailed 15-7.
All game long, Cazenovia found itself in catch-up mode, since Skaneateles scored the game’s first four goals before Audrey Burbidge put her team on the board midway through the first half.
Then the game slowed down a bit, with Paige Nardella scoring off a feed from Sarah Willard at the 16:32 mark. When Chloe Willard and Taylor Eldred notched goals in the last two minutes, Cazenovia had outscored Skaneateles 4-3 in the last portion of the first half.
Perhaps alerted to the danger, Skaneateles made another run at the start of the second half with three straight goals before Chloe Willard and Keara Dwyer hit on back-to-back scoring plays that made it 10-6 with plenty of time left.
However, Skaneateles used another 4-0 run to put it away before Burbidge scored in the final minutes. Sophie Goris recorded 14 saves, but saw Skaneateles’ star sophomore, Kyla Sears, notch three goals and four assists as teammates Hannah Powers and Hannah Logan also earn three-goal hat tricks.
Two nights later, Cazenovia recovered by defeating Onondaga 18-7, establishing its attack in the early going and not letting up on the Tigers, even after it raced out to a 10-3 halftime lead.
Burbidge had one of her best showings of the spring, taking part in half the scoring plays as she finished with five goals and four assists.
But OCS couldn’t focus on Burbidge because Nardella was busy scoring four times, with Dwyer and Olivia McEntee both finishing with three goals and two assists. Grace Milmoe earned one goal and one assist as Eldred and Colby Lucas contributed single goals. Goris finished with nine saves.
Another challenge awaited on Saturday, the Lakers hosting state no. 5-ranked Marcellus, who had lost to Homer earlier in the week.
With snow late in the week continuing to keep field conditions at the Sean Googin Sports Complex poor, the Lakers again found itself on the Christakos Field turf for an 8:30 a.m. start on Saturady against state no. 5-ranked Marcellus, who proceeded to beat Cazenovia 14-6.
The early face-off did not agree with Cazenovia, who found itself trailing the Mustangs 6-2 by halftime and never could get on track, though Burbidge, Eldred and Chloe Willard each finished with a pair of goals, with McEntee and Leah Enders earning assists.
Marcellus went after Goris, who had 13 saves, and found success mostly due to the work of Maddie Conklin, who poured in five goals and added three assists. Ally Burrows added three goals.
Cazenovia (5-4) stays at home this Tuesday to meet Bishop Ludden-Bishop Grimes, and then visits LaFayette on Thursday before a non-league game with Fayetteville-Manlius Saturday afternoon.
