Having waited for everyone else to get started, the Fayetteville-Manlius girls lacrosse team did so in a most impressive manner.
The Hornets, eager to get into a real game, ran all over Liverpool in last Wednesday night’s season opener, building a double-digit margin by halftime on the way to a 15-4 romp over the Warriors.
With a mix of veterans and young talent on hand, F-M head coach Katie Noel sent out a roster that had endured everything during a month of pre-season practices, from warm temperatures to the snow that curtailed so many schedules and sent others scrambling.
What made the Hornets’ effort against Liverpool even more impressive was the fact that the Warriors already had three games in the books and had won them all. Yet F-M controlled the draws, attacked against a vulnerable defense and did not let up until it had an 11-1 halftime lead.
F-M did so with an attack that spread the production around. Three different players – Mary Trop, Kiera Shanley and Amanda Cramer – earned three-goal hat tricks, with Shanley and Cramer adding assists.
Allison Macrae contributed three assists as Sydney DeGirolamo scored twice. Gemma Addonizio earned a goal and two assists as Jane Cote, Jamison Seabury and Katie Shanley also found the net. Between them, goalies Aubrey Deveau and Bobbey McCarthy made seven saves.
In a non-league game Saturday against Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake (Section II), F-M, not looking ahead to Wednesday’s visit from West Genesee, wiped out the Spartans 20-1, getting 12 unanswered goals in the first half and eventually seeing 10 different players find the net by game’s end.
Cote erupted for three goals and six assists, often passing it to Kiera Shanley, who scored five times and adding an assist. Macrae also got three goals, with Annie Steigerwald contributing two goals and two assists. Seabury, DeGriolamo (each with one goal, two assists) and Shanley (two goals, one assist) had matching point totals as Cramer got a goal and four assists. Jessica Aspinall and Gemma Addonizio also had goals and Megan Josephson gained an assist.
Once the snow was cleared off, East Syracuse Minoa was able to get in back-to-back games, starting last Tuesday night, when it faced the combined Syracuse City team and rolled to a comfortable 12-2 victory.
Both of Syracuse’s goals came in the first half. Up 7-2 at the break, the Spartans pulled away by seeing Tatum Kohlbrenner and Brigid McGinley both notch three-goal hat tricks, with Katina Shiomos adding a pair of goals.
Behind them, Kate McGarrity picked up a goal and two assists, while Sydney Caramanna, Olivia McEachron and Hannah Young had one goal apiece. Cara Miller had a superb effort in the net, notching 11 saves.
A night later, in slightly warmer conditions, ESM ran into a much tougher opponent, visiting Cortland and taking a 13-8 defeat to the Purple Tigers.
Though it stayed in close range throughout the game, the Spartans could not contain Cortland’s quartet of attackers. Shea Swartout and Maggie Reagan each had four goals for the Purple Tigers, with Jackie Rosetti (three goals) and Logan Chase (two goals, one assist) also productive.
Meanwhile, ESM had nice scoring balance, but no one that could break out. McGarrity, McGinley and Kohlbrenner picked up two goals apiece, while McEachron had one goal and one assist and Bella Talarico earned the other goal.
A third game in as many days would prove even tougher for ESM as it lost, 13-3, to Homer. McGinley, McEachron and Meagan Thomas each had one goal, but the well-rested Trojans wore the Spartans down and got a big night from Olivia Porter, whose six goals more than doubled ESM’s output.
