There was a brief spell in Wednesday night’s Section III semifinal at Allyn Arena where the undefeated Skaneateles girls ice hockey team was allowing Ithaca to have a breath of hope.
Once the second period started, though, the Little Red’s hope got crushed amid a flurry of Lakers goals – five in all – that formed the foundation for a 9-0 victory.
Familiarity between the two sides did not alone arise from two regular-season meetings that Skaneateles won. Ithaca’s goaltender, Devin Baylor is part of the Skaneateles Youth Hockey Association Under-19 club team, where she’s a teammate of several Lakers players.
That helped for one period, with Skaneateles unable to get anything past Baylor for more than nine minutes before Ioanna Christou converted with 5:48 left in the period.
At the intermission, Baylor had 15 saves and Ithaca only trailed 1-0, but starting at the 3:08 mark, Skaneateles began its getaway thanks to a breakway goal by Sophie Kush. Exactly two minutes later, Sophia Burns, fed by Megan Teachout, made it 3-0, and within 43 seconds the margin grew again thanks to a goal by Allison Weiss.
Once Kush hit her second goal with 6:24 left in the second period, Baylor got pulled, but the Lakers added another goal when Teachout put in a rebound 3:30 later.
Even though the game was well under control going to the third period, Skaneateles tacked on three more goals, including Weiss earning the hat trick and Teachout finding the net for the second time. Kat Lindgren earned the other goal.
Abby Kuhns piled up a team-best four assists, with Weiss getting two assists. Campbell Torrey, Lauren Jones and Katrina Harter earned one assist apiece.
