Defeats to Camden and Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake, by equal 2-1 margins, in a tournament on Sept. 18-19 brought the Cazenovia field hockey team back to the ground after a soaring start where it outscored its first six opponents by a combined 37-1 margin.
But it didn’t take long for the Lakers to find itself again, motivated by going to the top of the Onondaga High School League, with the key match-up coming on Wednesday afternoon when Weedsport paid a visit to Burton Street Elementary.
Here, Cazenovia had long droughts punctuated by a pair of scoring outbursts that, put together, was more than enough as Bella Wheeler led the Lakers past the Warriors 5-0.
Attacking right from the outset, the Lakers spent most of the game parked in Weedsport’s end, offering various runs that, more often than not, were canceled out by fouls that frustrated the Laker sidelines.
More frustrating, though, was the nine penalty corners Cazenovia could not convert during the first half, but thanks to one quick outburst, that didn’t matter much.
With 9:46 left in the half, Wheeler sent a shot through several Warrior defenders and past goalie Nicole Soutar. Less than two minutes later, the Lakers were swarming again, and Zoe Shephard’s shot found the net.
Up 2-0 at halftime, Cazenovia doubled that margin during an 84-second span early in the second half. Finally converting a penalty corner, Maria Stalder scored off Wheeler’s feed, and right after that Wheeler sent a hard shot into the net for her second goal.
To cap off her big day, Wheeler, with 17:45 to play, delivered her third goal, assisted by Shephard. The Lakers’ defense was stellar again, limiting Weedsport to two shots all afternoon.
Just before this, Cazenovia went to Bragman Stadium last Monday night and put the clamps down on defending Section III Class A champion Cicero-North Syracuse, prevailing 2-0 over the Northstars.
Again, getting on an artificial surface gave the Lakers some energy, and it proceeded to attack early and often against C-NS’s defense.
Though Northstars goalie Julia Lantry was sensational, making 10 saves, she couldn’t keep everything out, Shephard connecting on one goal in each half as Maria Stalder earned an assist.
After beating Weedsport, the Lakers (8-2), having played five times in a nine-day span, got a much-needed breather, off for more than a week before visiting Port Byron on Thursday, a game that is a prelude to next Monday night’s big test at Liverpool.
