Maybe the worst thing for the Fayetteville-Manlius girls lacrosse team, in the wake of its satisfying April 12 victory over West Genesee, was that it had to wait nearly a week to play again.
That was enough time for the excitement of beating the Wildcats for the first time in 11 years to die down – but it also halted the momentum the Hornets had built through a 4-0 start that had pushed them to no. 3 in the first state Class B rankings of the spring.
Six days passed, in fact, by the time F-M traveled to Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium to face Baldwinsville last Tuesday afternoon. In a much better game rhythm, the Bees would hand the Hornets its first defeat of the season by a score of 9-7.
Just as with F-M, B’ville is working with a young first-year head coach, Megan Collins, who took over after Doug Rowe’s departure. Collins’ Bees entered the game 4-2, but more importantly had won over Liverpool and Shenendehowa in the week since F-M had topped West Genesee.
Dictating the game’s tempo, B’ville never allowed the Hornets to attack as much as it wanted. At halftime, F-M trailed 5-4, and it kept exchanging goals the rest of the way, yet could not catch up.
Kiera Shanley finished with two goals and two assists. Amanda Cramer and Annie Steigerwald also scored twice, with Katie Shanley getting the other goal and Gemma Addonizio adding an assist.
Busy in the net, F-M goalie Marie Angello made 11 saves, yet found two B’ville players she could not solve. Sara Goodwin poured in five goals, while Hannah Johnson finished with three goals and one assist.
Now the Hornets would see how it handled a loss, as it visited Liverpool on Friday afternoon. It turned out that an angry F-M squad was a good one, too, as it ran over the Warriors in a 19-4 decision.
Long before halftime, the Hornets had surpassed its B’ville total, and the margin was 11-3 at the break. Things got more lopsided as Cramer set a personal mark with six goals, while Annie Steigerwald, Katie Shanley and Jane Cote got three goals apiece. Shanley also had two assists.
Addonizio and Sydney DeGirolamo each picked up one goal and one assist. Further help came from Kaylee Steigerwald, who had a goal and two assists as Kiera Shanley, Jessica Buck, Maya Chiesa and Sarah Buck also scored.
F-M would get another big test Tuesday when 9-0, state Class A no. 5-ranked Cicero-North Syracuse paid a visit before the Hornets faced Auburn Thursday and then had a Saturday showdown with Skaneateles, who just its top player, Kyla Sears, return to the lineup after missing nearly three weeks with a knee injury.
