For the Cazenovia girls lacrosse team, the prospect of a program-altering win over a long-established powerhouse that just happened to share its nickname had to feel tantalizing at halftime of last Tuesday night’s game against Skaneateles at Morrisville State College.
But then the second half got underway, and cold reality returned.
Skaneateles, even without its best player in the lineup, used its depth and skill to overwhelm Cazenovia’s defense and pull away, turning a close contest into an 18-8 defeat as Cazenovia fell to 1-3 on the season.
Toughened by early defeats to Fulton and Jamesville-DeWitt, Cazenovia eagerly anticipated dealing with a Skaneateles side still without Kyla Sears in the lineup after the right knee she injured in the 2016 pre-season flared up again during her team’s March 30 opener against Cicero-North Syracuse.
Without Sears, Skaneateles lost that game to C-NS and fell to Bethlehem two days later, and Cazenovia would find success against them, too, matching goals throughout an active first half and only trailing by one, 7-6, at intermission.
Staring at a third straight loss, Skaneateles ramped up all phases of its game during the second half, and Cazenovia paid for it, outscored 11-2 the rest of the way as freshman Riley Brogan, with six goals and one assist, led the visitors’ charge.
No single Cazenovia player could get going against the Skaneateles defense. Chloe Willard and Keara Dwyer each scored twice, with Lucy Connor joining Willard in the assist column as she, along with Grace Rajkowski, Megan Henderson and Olivia Catania, notched single goals.
On Thursday night, Cazenovia visited Rome Free Academy, and no one was catching them here. The 18-5 romp over the Black Knights included a 12-goal first half as the Lakers turned most of its possessions into conversions.
More importantly, that production got spread around, starting with Willard, who had four goals and three assists. Dwyer and Catania both scored three times, Dwyer adding two assists as Henderson, Rajkowski and Mikaylee Whalen gained two goals apiece. Connor had a goal and two assists as Molly Brown also found the net.
Cazenovia rolled again on Saturday afternoon against Onondaga, topping the Tigers 14-2 mostly on the basis of 12 unanswered goals in the first half, led again by Willard, who would score four times, and Connor, who had three goals.
Dwyer and Catania both finished with two goals and one assist as Brown contributed a goal and three assists. Henderson and Glenn Hartley got one goal and one assist apiece, while behind them goalies Laura Lorraine and Kayla Karmis combined to stop 11 of the 13 shots OCS threw at them.
Chittenango got its season underway against Cortland at home last Monday night and quickly found out how serious the Purple Tigers are as a championship contender during a 13-3 defeat.
Led by Logan Chase and Margaret Reagan, who had four goals apiece, Cortland steadily built its margin throughout the game. Chase also got five assists as, for the Bears, Maddie Flack, Tiffany Scofield and Kaiden Williams managed single goals.
Two nights later, the Bears were shut out, 14-0, by Jordan-Elbridge, who improved to 4-0 by scoring 11 times in the first half and overcoming nine saves by Chittenango goalie Hailee Watt. Alison Jennings led a well-balanced Eagles attack with three goals and one assist.
But Chittenango broke into the win column Friday night, edging Clinton 9-7. Most of the scoring was done in the first half, with the Bears fighting the wet, cold elements and inching in front 6-4, and then matching goals with the Warriors the rest of the way.
Taylor Glazier paced Chittenango with a career-best four goals. Flack backed up her pair of goals with three assists as Williams also scored twice. Scofield earned the other goal. Watt stopped 11 of the 18 shots she faced.
