It was quite a 48-hour stretch for the Christian Brothers Academy girls lacrosse team.
First, there was that late-second-half comeback to upend reigning state Class C champion Mount Sinai on April 24. A day later, the good news continued when the Brothers earned the top spot in the first state Class A rankings of the season, with West Genesee at no. 2 despite a defeat to Garden City.
To top off this great run, CBA went down the road to the new turf field at Jamesville-DeWitt and, in its toughest game to date against a local opponent, pulled away to beat the state Class B no. 15-ranked Red Rams 15-8.
One unique aspect of this matchup was that J-D’s coach, Dennis Kennedy, was on one side and his daughter, Danielle, a CBA defenders, was on the other side. At least for a couple of hours, they were opponents.
J-D, with its deep, athletic lineup, found some success against the Brothers’ defense throughout the night, but even with that, CBA’s skill proved too much to contain as it gained an 8-4 advantage by halftime and kept adding to that margin in the late going.
Emily Ehle, with three goals and one assist, and Rachel Vercillo, with two goals and two assists, led in points, but Tessa Queri also had three goals. Sam McKenna and Amanda Fess each scored twice as Maddie Cook added a goal and two assists.
Grace Hulslander gained one goal and one assist as Rachel Ziemba earned the other goal. Claire Jeschke, who scored the game-winner against Mount Sinai, and Olivia Penoyer both earned assists. For J-D, Alyssa Phillips earned four goals, while Katie Lutz, Ali Durkin, Riley Burns and Lizzie O’Brien had one goal apiece.
CBA went from there to smashing Oswego 21-2 on Thursday night, seeing 12 different players find the net as Hulsander and Rachel Vercillo lead the way with three goals apiece, Vercillo adding an assist.
Ehle, with two goals and four assists, and McKenna, with two goals and three assists, proved productive, too, as Lilly Hunt got two goals and two assists. Penoyer and Cook also had two-goal outings in front of Ziemba and Adriana Fess, who each got a goal and two assists. Morgan Riley, Jill Henson and Erica Mayette also earned goals.
Back in action Friday night, J-D roared past Oswego 19-10, building most of that margin through a 9-3 first-half push and not letting the Buccaneers get any closer as O’Brien set the pace, scoring five times and adding a pair of assists.
Burns and Phillips each got three goals, with Burns matching O’Brien’s two-assist output. Chloe Loewengurth also had two assists and Jillian Risavi had two goals and one assist. Durkin, Lutz, Lindsay MacLachlan, Arysa Lux and Ana Dieroff netted one goal apiece as Dieroff and Durkin tacked on assists.
The season-long struggles of East Syracuse Minoa continued last Tuesday, when Central Square ventured into Spartan Stadium and controlled matters from start to finish, handing the hosts a 16-4 defeat.
ESM could not contain the Redhawks, who led 9-3 by halftime and continued to pull away behind Megan Fisher and Morgan Moreira, who each had four goals and one assist, and Emma Robinson and Sam Cimilucca, who had two goals apiece.
Kate McGarrity was the lone Spartan to score twice, while Olivia McEachron and Tate Kohlbrenner had the other goals. Most of the time, though, the Spartans got thwarted, as Central Square goalie Chloe Tassone amassed 15 saves.
Then ESM ran into undefeated Fulton Thursday and lost, 22-8, to the Red Raiders. A 14-4 first half did most of the damage, though Kohlbrenner, McGarrity and Brigid McGinley still earned two goals apiece.
Meagan Thomas and Bella Talarico also found the net. Kelly Thomas added two assists and Janee DeLuca one assist as Fulton’s Hailey Carroll managed to outscore the Spartans by herself with a career-high nine goals to go with two assists. Three others – Jordan Coulon, Mallori Kitts and Keara Patterson – had three goals apiece.
In Saturday’s 15-10 loss to Auburn, the Spartans scored twice in the first 20 seconds, but then were shut out the rest of the first half as the Maroons gained a 5-2 edge and always answered when ESM tried to come back late.
DeLuca, with four goals and one assist, and McEachron, with four assists, led the way, with McGinley and Thomas getting two goals apiece. McGarrity and Kohlbrenner had the other goals. Auburn’s Lacey Netti led both sides with five goals and one assist.
