Stunned at home by West Genesee on May 6, the Christian Brothers Academy girls lacrosse team turned its attention to two more big home games as its last big tests before the Section III playoffs.
When the state Class A no. 6-ranked Brothers collided with its neighbors from Jamesville-DeWitt last Tuesday at Alibrandi Stadium, things were tight for quite a while before a late scoring surge pushed CBA past the Red Rams 13-6.
J-D, no. 8 in the state Class C rankings, had taken its own defeats to state Class D no. 1-ranked Marcellus and Fayetteville-Manlius the week before and was in search of its own signature victory. And it managed to control the tempo throughout the first half, though the Brothers still found it way to a 5-2 lead.
Early in the second half, the Rams picked up its attack, and pulled within two, 8-6, as Lizzie O’Brien worked her total to three goals and Katie Lutz scored twice, Ana Dieroff getting the other goal as Bess Murad earned a pair of assists.
Learning its lesson from the West Genesee loss, though, CBA closed on a much better note, here, scoring five straight to blow it open and spreading its production around, too, as Jillian Henson and Olivia Penoyer led with three goals apiece. Tessa Queri added a goal and two assists.
Meredith Strott scored twice, with Grace Hulslander and Claire Jeschke each getting one goal and one assist. Anna Ziemba and Tate Kohlbrenner also found the net as Rachel Ziemba contributed an assist and goalie Sloane Nicoletti-Watson had six saves. J-D goalie Emma Prosak made seven saves.
Now Skaneateles, the state’s no. 4-ranked Class D team, would arrive Thursday night at Alibrandi Stadium. These sides had enjoyed plenty of memorable meetings through the years, and this one was, too – especially for the Lakers, who controlled the tempo throughout the night and beat CBA 9-6.
Having not lost a game since Kyla Sears’ late-April return from a knee injury that sidelined her for three weeks, Skaneateles utilized the threat of Sears to great effect throughout this game, while also using long possessions to keep it away from CBA’s potent attackers.
Trailing 5-3 at halftime, the Brothers tried to rally, yet got answered every time as Sears and Mae McGlynn both netted three goals for the Lakers, Riley Brogan added two goals and goalie Emily Baldwin stopped nine of the 15 shots she faced.
Penoyer was the lone CBA player to find the net more than once, netting a three-goal hat trick. Hulslander had a goal and two assists, while Strott and Jeschke had the other goals. Kholbrenner picked up an assist and Nicoletti-Watson earned seven saves.
J-D, meanwhile, played at Mexico less than 24 hours after the CBA defeat, but had an easy time of it with the Tigers, prevailing 16-1 as it scored eight times in each half and got all kinds of players involved.
Riley LaTray had three goals and one assist, with Jill Risavi and Lindsay MacLachlan each getting two goals and one assist. Chloe Loewenguth also found the net twice as O’Brien had one goal and one assist. Goals also went to Lutz, Riley Burns, Emily Pomeroy, Jamie Boeheim (her first of the season), Emily Bobrek and Arysa Lux.
That same night, East Syracuse Minoa got into the win column, handling Syracuse 14-4 in a game that stayed fairly close until the second half, when the Spartans went on an 8-1 run to get clear.
Brigid McGinley and Bella Talarico each scored four times, with McGinley getting two assists and Talarico one assist. Olivia McEachron had three goals and one assist as Rileigh White, Sophia Orlando and Sydney Caramanna earned one goal apiece.
Then, on Friday, ESM marked Senior Night by beating Mexico 11-3, the Spartans holding the Tigers to a single goal in the first half as it took control.
McGinley gained three goals and two assists, with Talarico and Kelly Thomas each scoring twice. McEachron had a goal and two assists as Orlando and White each had one goal and one assist. Taylor Filmer also had a goal.
J-D also played on Friday and beat Homer 16-7, but it took a while for the Rams to get comfortable as the Trojans, led by Mattie Riter (who finished with five goals), were within one, 7-6, at halftime.
But then J-D started to dominate possession in the second half, and pulled clear behind O’Brien’s five goals, plus three-goal hat tricks from MacLachlan and Burns. Risavi had two goals and two assists as Lutz got a goal and two assists. Murad had one goal and one assist and Loewenguth scored, too.
Then, on Saturday, CBA took out its frustration from the WG and Skaneateles losses on Cortland in a 24-3 romp where the Brothers netted 15 consecutive goals in the second half to get away from the Purple Tigers.
Again leading the way, Olivia Penoyer had six goals and three assists. Hulslander and Queri both got three goals and three assists, with Rachel Ziemba also scoring three times.
Strott and Henson had two-goal outings as Henson, Jeschke and Erika Mayette both had two assists, Jeschke and Mayette joining Anna Ziemba, Avery Penoyer and Gia Anthony with single goals.
