All season long, the narrative in Section III Class A girls lacrosse had built toward an ultimate showdown between Christian Brothers Academy and West Genesee, once 1-2 in the state rankings.
But when that didn’t happen, the undefeated Brothers accepted the outcome – and proceeded to take out the team that took out the Wildcats.
Cicero-North Syracuse, after its first sectional title since 1998, sought a second surprise, but CBA would not let them get there, controlling most of the draws and possession time and patiently working its way to an 11-5 victory over the Northstars for its seventh overall sectional championship, but first in Class A.
Senior Emily Ehle said that, while the opposition was someone different, it wasn’t a task her team, who lost to West Genesee in last year’s sectional final, took lightly.
“I was disappointed it wasn’t West Genny,” said Ehle. “But C-NS is a great team to play, and really competitive.”
CBA head coach Doug Sedgwick said his players never lost their primary motivation – namely, to grab a sectional title.
“We’ve prepped for this and we just didn’t want to be denied,” said Sedgwick. “It’s always a tough hurdle to get through this, regardless of the opponent.”
While the Brothers and Northstars didn’t meet in the regular season, they did spar in the 2015 sectional semifinals, where CBA prevailed.
C-NS, no. 10 in the state Class A rankings, counted on its experience core of players (seven starters are seniors) to produce the same kind of strong all-around effort that had worked against West Genesee in the previous round.
Immediately, though, the Brothers made a statement with a point-blank save by goalie Sloane Nicoletti-Watson on the Northstars’ opening possession.
It would take more than 13 minutes before C-NS got on the board when Bryar Cummings scored. Largely, that owed to the Brothers controlling the ball through winning seven of eight draws in the first half.
For the game, the Brothers claimed 14 of 18 draws. Three different players – Ehle, Grace Hulslander and Olivia Penoyer – took the draws in the center circle, but it was the likes of Claire Jeschke, Tessa Queri and Amanda Fess winning the battles for the ground balls that allowed CBA to go on the attack.
Ehle said that any time her struggled this season came from when it couldn’t get draws, as was the case in the tough sectional semifinal win over Fayetteville-Manlius.
Sedgwick agreed. “We worked real hard on that,” he said. “We had the energy, enthusiasm and drive to get the ball. We were confident that we had the better stick skills, but we needed the ball.”
This, in turn, frustrated C-NS, who saw Samantha Tortora and Megan Tryniski, pick up yellow cards during the first half. Though it didn’t lead to many goals, CBA did enough, thanks to tallies by Jeschke, Queri and Olivia Penoyer, to take a 3-1 lead.
Late in the half, the Brothers sought to get away. Back-to-back goals by Penoyer and Hulslander doubled the margin, and Nicoletti-Watson returned to stop a free-position shot by Tortora in the waning seconds, keeping it 5-1 in CBA’s favor at the break.
It took just four minutes in the second half for Jeschke, off feeds from Penoyer and Ehle, to convert twice and make it 7-1, C-NS seeing its scoring drought last more than 16 minutes before Tortora broke it.
For most of the game, CBA’s defense, led by Kate Derrenbacker, Lexi Luthringer, Alexandra Fess and Alli Anderson, kept the Northstars’ senior All-American, Meghan Duffy, off the board.
But then Duffy scored a goal midway through the second half and assisted on sister Brenna Duffy’s tally to cut the Brothers’ lead to four, and when Cummings hit on a second goal with 9:06 to play, the Brothers’ margin was down to three, 8-5, forcing a time-out.
Again, CBA counted on getting the draws, which it did, twice more, leading to Penoyer’s third goal with 6:21 left and Queri converting two minutes later, all but putting the game – and the sectional title – away. Meredith Strott added a goal in the final minute.
Now the scene shifted to West Genesee’s Mike Messere Field, where on Saturday CBA faced Section IV champion Corning with a berth in the June 10-11 state final four at SUNY-Cortland on the line.
After a bit of early stress, the Brothers pulled away to beat the Hawks 17-8. They traded goals in the early minutes before CBA broke out of a 2-2 tie by pouring in five unanswered goals, taking a lead it would nor relinquish.
Corning trailed by as much as six in the first half, but scored twice to pull within four, 9-5, at the break. Sensing that danger, the Brothers made another sustained run at the start of the second half, getting the lead to double digits at one point.
Sam McKenna stepped up to lead the attack, earning four goals and one assist. Ehle (three goals, one assist), Jeschke and Rachel Vercillo (each with two goals and two assists) picked up four points apiece. Penoyer got a goal and two assists as Hulslander, Maddie Cook, Rachel Ziemba, Amanda Fess and Catherine Harrigan got one goal apiece.
CBA has made it back to the state final four, and will get up next Friday morning and go to Tompkins County Community College for a 9:30 a.m. state semifinal date against North Rockland, who have made it this far for the first time in program history. The winner of that game plays for the state title 24 hours later at SUNY-Cortland.
