As the final minutes of its season ticked away, the Cazenovia girls lacrosse team refused to let reality take over.
Once down by seven goals, the no. 5 seed Lakers went all-out in a charge to try and catch no. 4 seed Marcellus in Tuesday night’s Section III Class C quarterfinal, and had it played for a few more minutes, who knows what may have taken place.
But it finally did end for Cazenovia in an 11-8 defeat to the Mustangs, though the game served as a proud reminder of how much the Lakers did accomplish in a spring where it had an 11-7 reocrd and even made an appearance in the state rankings.
When they had met in the regular season, on April 21 at the Sean Googin Sports Complex, it wasn’t even close. Marcellus crushed Cazenovia 12-2, and for a long while the playoff rematch followed that exact same course.
Claiming most of the draws, showing patience in its attack and shutting down whatever the Lakers tried to establish, the Mustangs claimed a 4-0 lead before Chloe Willard got her team on the board at the 17:34 mark.
Right away, though, Marcellus answered, and doubled its total in the last seven minutes of the half to make it 8-1, a game that was closer to a running clock than a close battle, though that would soon change.
With a trio of quick goals early in the second half, Cazenovia began to eat into that deficit. With the likes Of Megan Henderson, Keara Dwyer and Olivia McEntee helping out, the Lakers diversified its attack and made a serious push.
Zoe Shephard’s goal with 4:49 left cut the margin to three, but Marcellus won the ensuing draw and then milked the remaining clock, hanging on to set up a sectional semifinal against its neighbors from Westhill, with the winner to get Skaneateles or South Jefferson in the finals Tuesday at the Carrier Dome.
Willard, Shephard and Henderson led with two goals apiece. McEntee had an assist to go with her goal as Sophie Goris kept her team within reach by recording 10 saves. Grace Coon and Abby Vetsch led a well-balanced Marcellus attack, each of them scoring three times as Maddie Conklin got two goals and two assists, with Colette Rigas adding two goals and one assist.
