Once proved challenging, and twice proved difficult, but by the third time the Jamesville-DeWitt girls lacrosse team fought past East Syracuse Minoa, it wasn’t close at all – and it served as a harbinger for greater things to come.
During last Tuesday’s Section III Class B opening-round game, the no. 3 seed Red Rams would lean on its defense to put away the no. 6 seed Spartans, and by doing so, made sure that it didn’t need a blitz of goals on the other end, prevailing by a 12-3 margin.
In their first meeting April 9 at ESM Stadium, J-D had to work hard on both ends to pull out a 9-5 decision. The rematch less than three weeks later was even closer, the Rams barely getting past the Spartans 10-9.
The close nature of those games gave ESM a reason to think that, befitting the sports cliché of the difficulty of one team beating another three times in a given season, the Spartans would claim the third and most important encounter.
Quickly, though, J-D defied the cliché and imposed its will all over the field, silencing ESM’s forwards while, at the same time, steadily attacking and eventually gaining a 6-2 edge by halftime.
Instead of rallying, the Spartans were silenced again in the latter stages, getting just one goal apiece from Janee DeLuca, Brigid McGinley and Kate McGarrity, far from enough.
Meanwhile, Lizzie O’Brien and Carly Stone were both recording three-goal hat tricks for the Rams, O’Brien adding a pair of assists. Three others – Caroline Kopp, Alyssa Phillips and Jessica Wipper – had three assists apiece, Wipper adding a goals as Meghan Byrnes and Julia Kelner both scored twice. Ali Durkin had the other goal.
Now, in Thursday’s Class B semifinal at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium, J-D would try and topple no. 2 seed Carthage, who had flattened Whitesboro 23-6 in its sectional opener.
Not intimidated one bit by those gaudy numbers, J-D dictated the tempo and cranked up its defensive pressure, especially in the second half, which that translated into a 9-7 victory over the Comets.
J-D knew, from the outset, that it could not get into a track meet with Carthage. Thus, whenever it had the ball in the first half, it slowed things down, giving the defense a chance to conserve its energy while, at the same time, making several scoring plays to forge a 5-5 tie.
Then, in the second half, the Rams’ back line went to work. Over and over, J-D’s defenders took away what the Comets wanted to do, and even when shots did pull through, goalie Maddie Behan was busy working her total to eight saves.
Given that, modest production would get the Rams in front, and a trio of players provided most of it. O’Brien notched a three-goal hat trick, while Wipper had two goals and two assists and Stone also found the net twice.
Now J-D’s long quest for a first-ever sectional title will bring it to the Carrier Dome Tuesday night, where it will try and topple top seed and defending champion Watertown. The Cyclones rolled past Auburn 18-6 in the other semifinal. Game time is 6 p.m.
