DEWITT – No matter how it happened, for the West Genesee and Skaneateles girls lacrosse teams earning a Section III championship brought similar doses of immense satisfaction.
For the Wildcats in Tuesday night’s sectional Class B final at Jamesville-DeWitt, it required a ferocious comeback, clutch defensive stops and a dramatic goal at the end of overtime to prevail 13-12 over Auburn.
In the Class D title game that followed, the Lakers, again challenged by South Jefferson, leaned heavily on its defense which, combined with one timely scoring burst, again turned back the Spartans, this time in a 6-4 decision.
WG was the top seed going into the Class B final, but that didn’t discourage no. 2 seed Auburn one bit as the Maroons battled its way to a 7-4 halftime lead and then stretched that margin to 11-6 early in the second half.
All season long, though, the Wildcats had found itself in similar situations – not always escaping them, but understanding the urgency of playing with a late deficit.
Olivia Blanding began the comeback with three straight goals that made it 11-9. Then, after cutting the margin to one, it was Molly Doran, already with three goals, forging an 11-11 tie with 2:24 left in regulation.
Auburn quickly countered, Caroline Smith netting her sixth goal of the night 25 seconds later, only to have Doran return and, with 58 seconds to play, hit for the fifth time.
Now the next goal would win it. Auburn had a chance at the end of regulation, but WG made a defensive stop. Then, after winning the OT draw, WG got within an inch of winning, only to see Blanding rip a shot off the post.
Back with the ball and a player up, the Maroons could not take advantage, turning it over. Blanding charged and drew a free-position shot with 17 seconds left and, again, the post denied her the game-winner.
Amid a scramble, WG regained possession and Caraline Major, in front of the net, shot and was blocked by Auburn goalie Dejah Evans-Murphy. Major got it back, fired – and it found the net less than a second before the OT period ended.
It was Major’s second goal of the night, matching that of teammate Mia Gialto. Madelyn Ryder added a goal as Allie Hanlon recorded seven saves, two less than Evans-Murphy.
Skaneateles would then take the turf at J-D prepared for a memorable Class D battle. South Jefferson remembered how, a year ago, it lost the sectional final to the Lakers on a last-second goal by Julia O’Connor.
The Spartans had netted 331 goals in 18 games. Here, though, it ran into a ferocious Skaneateles defense that, playing man-to-man, closed up every possible lane the Spartans tried to run through.
The quartet of Ella Bobbett, Emily Hutar, Claire Neumann and Katie Reed made all kinds of blocks, and when that didn’t work, goalie Emily Evans, a spectator in the 2022 sectional final due to injury, recorded nine saves.
At first, this superb effort didn’t pay off on the other end, with the teams tied 2-2 well into the second half as Rachel Hackler and Bella Brogan had the Lakers’ early goals.
But when Brogan and Paige Willard converted back-to-back with 15 minutes left, Skaneateles seized the lead for good, and Brogan notched a third goal as South Jefferson broke out of a long drought to make it tight late.
With the margin cut to 5-4, the Lakers won a crucial draw and, with 8:52 to play, Hackler scored her second goal to double the margin, and Skaneateles shut things down again, earning yet another trip to the state Class D tournament.
