If the Cazenovia girls lacrosse team didn’t have momentum prior to last Wednesday night’s game against visiting Jordan-Elbridge, it sure had some afterwards.
Trailing by four goals midway through the second half, the Lakers saved its best work for the homestretch, overcoming that deficit and pulling out a 13-12 victory over the Eagles, with Chloe Willard in the featured role as Cazenovia clinched a winning record for 2016, improving to 9-6 overall.
An evenly played first half saw J-E inch into a 7-6 lead, and the Eagles added to that margin thanks to three goals from Antonia Malvaso and help from her teammates. Marissa Malvaso had two goals and one assist, with Alexis Awitzer and Emily Kuenhle each earning a goal and two assists.
Somehow, Cazenovia overcame this with a charge in the last 12 minutes, and Willard nearly carried the attack, eventually earning seven goals, plus one assist. No other Lakers player had more than the two goals put up by Keara Dwyer, who added an assist as Olivia McEntee got a goal and two assists. Olivia Catania, Lucy Connor and Paige Nardella had one goal apiece.
For Chittenango, the week started with a special event at Tully last Monday night. While the game featured the Bears against the Black Knights, the more important event was the fund-raiser for the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Foundation. Both teams wore pink uniforms for the occasion.
Tully won the game, though, topping Chittenango 9-6 as the hosts never trailed. The Bears were within one, 3-2, at halftime, but the Black Knights began the second half on a 5-1 run, led by Mackenzie Bolt, who finished with three goals and two assists.
The margin got to 9-4 before the Bears, with a pair of late goals, made it a bit closer. Ashley Young and Nicole Zimmer both finished with two goals, while Lauren Billington had one goal and one assist. Brooke VanGorden had the other goal and Tiffany Scofield got an assist as Allie Denton finished with 11 saves.
Off until Thursday night, Chittenango then visited Clinton, looking to clinch at least a .500 record for the season – which it did with relative ease, gaining an 8-3 lead by halftime and moving on to defeat the Warriors 14-6.
Zimmer had a part in half the Bears’ scoring plays, finishing with five goals and two assists. VanGorden and Young had three-goal hat tricks, with Billington contributing two assists. Scofield and Rachel Wilson each had one goal and one assist as Maddie Flack contributed a goal and Sam Fobey had an assist.
But this led to tough finishing games for the Bears Saturday against state Class A no. 1-ranked CBA and 13-1 Fulton.
The Bears lost, 21-4, to CBA, getting all of its goals in the second half, one each from Zimmer, Young, Scofield and VanGorden as Scofield added two assists and Billington one assist. But that was after the Brothers built a 17-0 halftime lead as Olivia Penoyer (five goals, one assist) and Rachel Vercillo (three goals, three assists) led that effort.
So while Chittenango moved on to face Fulton, Cazenovia only has left its game with LaFayette on Wednesday before it learns about where it will got for the sectional playoffs.
