On a gray Saturday morning, the Cazenovia girls lacrosse team put its season on the line when it hosted General Brown at the Sean Googin Sports Complex during the opening round of the Section III Class C playoffs.
The no. 5 seed Lakers knew that a win over the no. 12 seed Lions would mean a quarterfinal Tuesday against no. 4 seed Marcellus, who had routed Watertown IHC 19-3 in its first-round game. And though it took a while to take control, Cazenovia did so, and ultimately prevailed 14-7.
GB got the first goal, from Haley Call, but consecutive tallies from Chloe Willard, Lucy Connor and Olivia McEntee gave the Lakers a lead it would not relinquish. Willard struck again with three consecutive goals later in the half, which accounted for her team’s 6-3 halftime margin.
But it wasn’t until attack diversified that the Lakers were able to put the Lions away. Six different players scored in a decisive 6-0 run that opened the second half, and Willard didn’t get her fifth goal until Connor, McEntee, Megan Henderson, Paige Nardella and Keara Dwyer had converted.
Nardella and Henderson both would add goals in the latter stages as McEntee picked up three assists and Mikaylee Whalen earned two assists. Now Cazenovia would get a chance to avenge its 12-2 defeat to Marcellus on April 21 with a berth in Thursday’s sectional semifinal against Westhill or Homer at stake.
Homer, the no. 8 seed, got to its quarterfinal with the top-seeded Warriors at the expense of Chittenango, whose season ended with a narrow 7-6 defeat to the Trojans.
This was a tight, tense game from start to finish, with defenses ruling in the first half as Homer (who beat Chittenango 9-7 in a regular-season meeting on March 29) nudged into a 3-2 lead. For the rest of the game, any time the Bears caught up, the Trojans had an answer,
Just three players scored for Chittenango as Nicole Zimmer got three goals, Lauren Billington two goals and Brooke VanGorden one goal. Rachel Wilson added an assist.
By contrast, Homer had five goal-scorers – Mattie Riter and Nina Armedio with two each, plus single tallies from Olivia Porter, Hannah Porter and Carolyne Yonta. Allie Denton made five saves, while Trojans counterpart Katie Lawrence had eight saves.
Right before the playoffs, Cazenovia concluded the regular season by facing LaFayette last Wednesday night. Not wanting to spoil the Senior Night festivities, the state Class C no. 20-ranked Lakers put together a superb all-around effort and defeated the Lancers 18-10.
The pace was quick throughout, and Cazenovia was ready for it, doubling up LaFayette while building an 8-4 halftime lead. Then it got further away behind an attack that didn’t lean as much on Willard, though she still had six goals and one assist.
Connor found the net five times, while Nardella got three goals and two assists. Dwyer notched four assists as she and Whalen joined Henderson and Julia Wilson in the one-goal column. Sophie Goris finished the night with seven saves.
Chittenango, having absorbed a rough defeat at the hands (and sticks) of state Class A no. 1-ranked CBA on May 14, had to turn around and face, two nights later, a Fulton side that was no. 24 in the state in Class B and whose only defeat came to CBA in late April.
Here, the Bears held up quite well, only taking a 13-8 defeat to the Red Raiders. A close first half saw Chittenango stay within one, 5-4, but it could not put together the sustained scoring run it needed to keep Fulton from getting away.
Still, Zimmer and Ashley Young each produced three-goal hat tricks, while Billington and VanGorden had the other goals. Allie Denton finished with 12 saves.
On the Red Raiders’ side, Keara Patterson amassed 10 points thanks to her three goals and seven assists. McKenna Chesbro benefited from this, with five goals and one assist, as did Hailey Carroll (three goals, one assist) and Jordan Coulon (two goals).
Even with those late-season defeats, the Bears, at 8-8, were bound for the sectional playoffs, though it stay would prove short.
