Just a few years ago, the Christian Brothers Academy and Skaneateles girls lacrosse teams were both in Class C, knowing that their inevitable post-season showdowns would send someone toward a possible state championship.
Now, though, the Brothers have jumped up all the way to Class A, but the rivalry between the two powerhouse program remains, and it renewed itself Wednesday night at Alibrandi Stadium with the Brothers riding a strong second-half effort to an 11-8 victory over the Lakers.
CBA, who sits at no. 6 in the latest state Class A rankings, knew that Skaneateles, the reigning state Class C champions, had just defeated another Class A power, Cicero-North Syracuse, 16-11 on April 25, and was aiming not just at the Brothers, but also at West Genesee, whom the Lakers will face Saturday night in Camillus.
But facing adversity is something to which CBA is quite accustomed. Not only has it seen two of its key players, Maddie Cook and Rachel Ziemba, return from torn ACL’s suffered last June, it also has another standout, Evie Lopoo, on the sidelines with her own knee injury, not sure if she will return this season.
What this game demonstrated is that the disparate parts of the Brothers’ game work quite well when pieced together, and that it didn’t flinch once as the Lakers kept taking the lead throughout the first half.
Late in the first half, Emily Ehle scored off a feed from Rachel Vercillo to put CBA in front 5-4. But Skaneateles countered with Hannah Logan netting two goals 14 seconds apart, the kind of quick strike that can frustrate most normal opponents.
The Brothers are different, though, and its 6-5 halftime deficit lasted all of 38 seconds before Ehle netted her second goal, again assisted by Vercillo, and Sam McKenna, who had three goals on the night, scored three minutes later to put CBA ahead – for keeps, as it turned out.
That was because the Brothers’ defense was keying in on two Skaneateles forwards, Hannah Powers and Bailey Herr, and would hold them to one goal apiece. Thus, the production of the Lakers’ top player, Kyla Sears, who had four goals and one assist, didn’t hurt too much.
In fact, when Sears netted that fourth goal with 14:37 left to cut CBA’s lead to one, 9-8, it would be the last Skaneateles goal of the night. Defenders Kate Derrenbacker, Alexa Radziewicz, Lexi Luthringer and Adrianna Fess frustrated Skaneateles, and goalie Annie O’Brien would record four saves.
Strott would add her third goal and Cook scored, too, to extend the Brothers’ margin as, throughout the game’s last 10 minutes, it deftly held on to the ball and kept it in the Skaneateles end, using that long possession time to deftly protect its margin.
