With its enormous come-from-behind win over Skaneateles on April 13 in the books, the Marcellus girls lacrosse team found itself placed at no. 3 in the first state Class D rankings of the spring.
Neither a week of rest, nor the notoriety from vanquishing its long-time nemesis in blue and gold, hurt the Mustangs much as it returned to action Saturday and handled Homer by a 19-3 margin.
Steadily, Marcellus rolled to an 11-3 advantage by halftime and blanked the Trojans the rest of the way as Maddie Conklin got five goals and three assists, her total just ahead of Grace Coon, who had four goals and three assists.
Abby Vetsch scored twice, adding three assists, while Katherine Locastro had a three-goal hat trick. Anna Vetsch matched Abby’s two-goal output as Taylor Reich, Colette Rigas and Lily Powell earned single goals. Sarah Hutchings contributed an assist.
To some extent, Marcellus was fortunate in that it caught Skaneateles without its All-American forward, Kyla Sears, in the lineup. But Sears returned from her knee injury in time for the Lakers’ game against visiting Westhill last Wednesday afternoon, and was a big reason why the Warriors suffered a 12-8 defeat.
Throughout the first half, the two sides played on even terms, with state no. 8-ranked Westhill answering each Skaneateles push. Then, from a 5-5 halftime tie, the Warriors netted the first three goals of the second half to go in front, 8-5.
It was also a deep, well-balanced attack, with only Erin McMullen and Haileigh Farrell scoring twice. Single goals went to Abby Stack, Caroline Miller, Reilly Geer and Rebecca Gilhooley, with Sam VanBuren joining Geer in the assist column.
However, Skaneateles started to dominate in the draw circle down the stretch and burned Westhill for seven unanswered goals. Sears made her return a memorable one, earning four goals and one assist to help out freshman Riley Brogan, who led the Lakers with five goals.
Without any time to rest, Westhill had to turn around Thursday and face yet another tough opponent, state Class B no. 14-ranked Fulton, who like the Warriors were coming off a recent defeat to CBA.
The Red Raiders beat Westhill 15-9, with the Warriors constantly burned by Fulton’s duo of Hailey Carroll and Jordan Coulon. Carroll finished with six goals, while Coulon scored five times and added three assists as Keara Patterson also earned three assists to go with a pair of tallies.
No one on Westhill’s squad could equal what Carroll and Coulon were doing. VanBuren, Stack and Farrell earned two goals apiece, with Gilhooley, McMullen and MacCaull getting matching totals of one goal and one assist. Miller picked up two assists as Morgan Elmer, in goal, earned nine saves.
Jordan-Elbridge, who stood at no. 11 in those same state Class D rankings, met no. 19-ranked Cazenovia on Thursday afternoon, and despite its 5-2 record going into the game, it could not quite topple those other Lakers, who prevailed 14-13 in overtime.
During a fast-paced first half, the Eagles’ defense had difficulty containing Cazenovia forward Chloe Willard, who would eventually score seven goals. Yet J-E only trailed 10-9 at halftime and went out in front with four straight goals early in the second half, the attack centered around Alexis Fietta, normally a distributor, who poured in a season-best five goals.
Cazenovia made its own comeback to tie it, 13-13, and the Lakers gained a player advantage because J-E was flagged for a card in the last seconds of regulation. Cazenovia won the draw and worked the ball around. Worried about Willard, the Eagles left Keara Dwyer open, and she put it past Allie Derby for the game-winner, her third goal of the day to go with three assists. Prior to that, Derby had made six saves.
Helping Fietta on the J-E attack, Marissa Malvaso had three goals and one assist, with Alexis Braun adding a goal and three assists. Antonia Malvaso and Allison Jennings had two goals apiece as Miranda Malvaso got one goal and one assist.
Rebounding on Saturday afternoon, J-E outscored Tully 17-14. Even though its defense remained a weak spot in the early going, the Eagles still fought to a 10-9 edge by halftime and then gained a small margin in the game’s latter stages.
Marissa Malvaso had five goals and two assists, with Jennings getting four goals and one assist. Miranda Malvaso notched four assists as she and Goodrich each scored twice, Goodrich tacking on two assists. Antonia Malvaso added three assists. Braun, Fietta, Alexandria Smart and Emily Somes got one goal apiece.
Bishop Ludden-Bishop Grimes returned to action Saturday and beat Syracuse, 13-7, breaking out of a 5-5 halftime tie as Molly McInerney, with five goals and three assists, led the late charge.
Rhonee Shea Pal notched three goals, with Emma Driscoll and Emily Monroe each scoring twice and getting an assist. Katie Costello earned the other goal as Grace Lambrych gained a pair of assists.
