Ever since its ill-fated early-season trip to Fulton, the Jamesville-DeWitt girls lacrosse team had waited, and hoped, for another shot at the Red Raiders, convinced it could do better once it had more games and experience to count on.
Then the opportunity presented itself Thursday night, when the no. 3 seed Red Rams met no. 2 seed Fulton in the Section III Class B semifinals at Christian Brothers Academy’s Alibrandi Stadium, and J-D didn’t waste it.
Playing a superb all-around game on both ends of the field, the Red Rams dashed the title dreams of the Red Raiders, 10-5 to set up Tuesday night’s trip to the Carrier Dome for the title game, a rematch of the 2015 final against top seed Watertown, who beat Carthage 13-5 in the other semifinal.
Among the many things J-D learned from losing to Fulton 15-9 on April 16 was that the Red Raiders had athletes capable of pushing the tempo, and enough scoring depth to keep the Rams from focusing on any one player to stop.
With all of that in mind, the Rams made sure that, in the rematch, it stayed patient with the ball to slow Fulton down. Also, that tactic worked on defense, where J-D’s athletes, so accustomed to post-season pressure situations in other sports (such as soccer and basketball), knew how to perform, and did so.
By halftime, J-D led 5-3, and it knew how to play with an advantage. Throughout the second half, the Rams won draws, continued to work long possessions and, any time it got threatened, could count on goalie Maddie Behan, who stopped 10 of the 15 Fulton shots she faced.
While the Rams’ attack was modest, Lizzie O’Brien was not, pouring in four goals. Riley Burns earned one goal and one assist, while Meg Hair, Ana Dieroff and Katie Lutz had one goal apiece. Alyssa Phillips contributed an assist.
J-D got there by virtue of its solid all-around effort in last Tuesday night’s Class B quarterfinal, where it let no. 6 seed Auburn hang around for a while before steadily pulling away in the second half to beat the Maroons 11-5.
Auburn had played Class A foes all season in the CNY Counties League but hadn’t beaten any of them. Still, it only trailed by two, 5-3, at halftime, which required the Rams to maintain its defensive pressure until the attack could put in enough goals to feel safe.
And things were spread around, too, except for O’Brien, who scored five times and added an assist. Phillips, Burns and Lindsay MacLachlan each had one goal and one assist, while Lutz, Dieroff and Jill Risavi also found the net.
