In recent years, no girls golf team in the CNY Counties League was able to keep up with Auburn, much less pass them.
All of that changed – for one afternoon, anyway – last Monday at Owasco Country Club, where Cicero-North Syracuse took full advantage of a short-handed Maroons lineup and prevailed by a 212-220 margin to improve to 2-1 on the season.
Having lost to Fayetteville-Manlius by a 27-shot margin at its home course of Northern Pines in its last match on April 20, C-NS wasn’t expected to challenge Auburn, but things changed when the Northstars found out that two-time state individual champion Lindsay May was not competing on this day.
Armed with that knowledge, C-NS got a superb effort in the rain from Morgan Siechen, who shot a 46 for nine holes, leading all individuals as the Maroons’ Marki Flurschutz led her side with a 49, helped by Lauryn Husby and Maggie Lesch, who both shot 52.
However, no other Auburn golfer shot better than 66, giving the Northstars a chance to make up ground. It did so when Jordan Himes shot a 53, two shots better than Nessa McKie’s total of 55. When Mackenzie Cole posted a 57, nine shots ahead of Auburn’s Samantha Lesch, it had the victory.
There was no letdown, either, when C-NS returned home to Northern Pines on Wednesday and rolled past the Baldwinsville Bees 176-219.
In fact, the Northstars posted the four lowest individual scores. McKie rolled to a 43, but so did Abby Ainsworth in her best round of the season. Siechen remained solid, too, shooting a 44, just ahead of Himes, whose 46 beat B’ville’s top golfer, Emma Brushingham, by four shots.
This tremendous week for C-NS was capped with an exciting match Friday against its neighbors from Liverpool, who put up quite a resistance on its home course at Liverpool Country Club, but could not catch the Norhstars, taking a 196-201 defeat.
Yet it was the Warriors’ Natalya Avotins shooting the low individual round of 43, three shots ahead of Siechen, whose 46 beat McKie by a shot. Mia Avotins had a 47 and Leah Egan added a 49, but no other Liverpool player was better than Mia Latifagic’s 62, so when Ainsworth posted a 51 and Aleah Adamo added a 52, C-NS went ahead.
Liverpool had opened the week with a victory, stopping West Genesee 205-220 last Monday afternoon. Mia Avotins shot a 44 and Natalya Avotins posted a 45 at LCC, each of them well clear of the Wildcats’ Mikki Riley, who led her side with a 50. Egan, with a 55, and Liz Basilio, with a 61, helped out.
