Nothing, other than another Section III Class C title and a second run of back-to-back state championships, will please the Skaneateles girls lacrosse team.
Entering the sectional tournament with the top seed and a first-round bye, the Lakers are 12-3 and hold the no. 3 state ranking. None of those defeats (against Manhasset, Garden City and CBA) came against teams Skaneateles would have to face anywhere in the post-season.
The last tune-up for the playoffs came in the form of back-to-back games forced by the 24-hour postponement of last Monday’s visit to Jordan-Elbridge.
That didn’t stop the Lakers too much as, at J-E, it flattened the Eagles 21-3, nearly the same result as its 20-4 win over that same team on April 16, but featuring, in this case, a 14-1 first-half surge.
Kyla Sears put together five goals and two assists. Bailey Herr and Hannah Powers each scored three times, with Hannah Logan getting two goals and two assists.
Defender Elizabeth Lane had her first two-goal effort of the season, joining Mae McGlynn on that number. Molly Newton and Catie Woodruff each got one goal and one assist as Abby Kuhns and Sophie Kush managed single tallies.
Just 24 hours later, the regular season concluded with Skaneateles hosting Cazenovia, a team it beat 16-8 on April 20. The rematch was a near-duplicate, except that this time Skaneateles got off to a much better start on its way to claiming the Laker duel by a 17-8 margin.
All through the first 25 minutes, Skaneateles measured its attack and then struck, not letting up until it had picked up a 9-2 advantage. Then it spent the rest of the game answering every single time Cazenovia, led by Chloe Willard’s three-goal hat trick, tried to run.
For the night, Sears picked up six goals and one assist, but otherwise the production was nicely spread around. Powers, Logan and Green each had two goals and one assist, with Newton and Woodruff also finding the net twice. Herr added an assist.
With that top seed for the sectional tournament, Skaneateles would await the winner of the first-round game last weekend between no. 8 seed Homer and no. 9 seed Bishop Ludden-Bishop Grimes.
Homer won it, 12-6, so the Lakers and Trojans clash Tuesday, and the winner moves on to Thursday’s semifinal at CBA’s Alibrandi Stadium against no. 4 seed Marcellus or no. 5 seed Westhill. Again, the sectional title game will take place at the Carrier Dome next Tuesday night.
