Having coped with defeats in its first two games, and wondering when, or if, its newly-designated All-American would return, the Skaneateles girls lacrosse team faced an early crossroads in last Tuesday’s game against Cazenovia at Morrisville State College.
This Lakers duel was a close contest at halftime, but instead of wilting, Skaneateles turned to its entire lineup and produced an inspired second half that turned a tense affair into an impressive 18-8 victory.
Cazenovia had dealt with its own early-season defeats to Fulton and Jamesville-DeWitt, but it 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.
Abby Kuhns helped out, scoring three times, while Olivia Navaroli had two goals and two assists. Mae McGlynn and Grace Dower also had two-goal outings as Jessica Patalino, Emma Goodell and Gaby Welch earned single tallies. Rachel Pinney got an assist. Combined, goalies Emily Baldwin and Allison Weiss had 11 saves.
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.
Back home at Hyatt Stadium Thursday night, Skaneateles faced Tully, and didn’t wait until the second half to take charge, doing most of its hard work in the second half of a cold, rain-soaked 14-8 victory over the Black Knights.
Eager to get the hard work done in the early going, Skaneateles clicked with its attack throughout the first half, eventually establishing a 10-3 margin. It centered around Kuhns, who set a career mark with six goals, and Navaroli, who matched that point total with four goals and two assists.
Dower wasn’t far behind, notching the first three-goal hat trick of her varsity career as Brogan contributed one goal and one assist. Tully kept things from getting out of hand thanks to four goals from Mackenzie Bolt.
This leads to a busy, tough week for Skaneateles that starts Tuesday at Jordan-Elbridge, continues Thursday with a big home game against rival Marcellus and, on Saturday, culminates with a visit to West Genesee.
