CORTLAND – Maybe it only figured that a four-year wait for the Jamesville-DeWitt girls lacrosse team to claim another Section III Class C championship only ended after having to battle all the way for it.
The top-seeded Red Rams outlasted no. 2 seed Christian Brothers Academy 9-7 Monday night at SUNY-Cortland and, by doing so, claimed the team’s first sectional title since 2021.
Defeats in the finals in 2021 and 2022 along with a dramatic 10-9 defeat to eventual champion Fulton in last spring’s sectional Class C semifinal left J-D hungry and determined. CBA also was trying to climb back on top and, with a 15-3 record this season, stood at no. 9 in in the state rankings, one spot behind the 16-2 Rams.
Though they hadn’t met in the regular season, familiarity with each other’s styles meant that defenses could not be easily fooled. The result was a quiet opening sequence where Maeve Mackenzie’s goal for the Brothers was the lone tally for a while.
But then J-D’s depth began to show. Not only did it grab a 6-1 lead by the latter portion of the second period, it did so with six different players – Merris Kessler, Maggie Bliss, Alexis Scaramuzzino, Lacey Phaneuf, Sadie Withers and Ella Dumit – netting goals.
Kessler’s second goal in the third period answered a pair of CBA tallies and made it 7-3, but then the Rams went cold, shut out for more than a full quarter and giving ample time for the Brothers to make up ground – which it did.
By the early portion of the fourth quarter J-D’s margin was down to one, 7-6, but just when it looked like CBA would pull even freshman Ella Parker notched a crucial goal to thwart the run.
Mackenzie again cut the Brothers’ deficit to one, yet that was all her team could manage against a Rams defense which made several key late stops and got 10 saves from goalie Pearson Eckrich, three more than CBA counterpart Madison Evans.
When Parker returned to score with 1:36 left, J-D all but clinched it, fitting given that Parker led her team with six ground balls while also joining Kessler, Bliss and Caidence McIntosh earning assists.
Ironically, when J-D went into the state Class C tournament and played in its regional final Saturday, it was on CBA’s turf at Alibrandi Stadium as it met Section V champion Honeoye Falls-Lima – and once again, showed its toughness.
The Red Rams outlasted the Cougars by the same two-goal margin that it did with CBA, only here it was with more firepower as J-D took it 14-12 and earned a long-awaited trip to the state final four.
Back at SUNY-Cortland this Friday at 4:30 J-D will take on Long Island champion Bayport-Blue Point with the winner getting to Saturday’s state title game against Queensbury or Owego.
