Even with an active win streak and no recent setbacks, the Marcellus girls lacrosse team fell from no. 3 to no. 4 in the latest state Class D rankings.
Instead of anger, the Mustangs responded with, perhaps, its best win of the season so far as it went to Jamesville-DeWitt and handed the unbeaten, state Class C no. 3-ranked Red Rams its first defeat of the season last Tuesday night by a score of 14-11.
On the way to a 5-0 start, J-D had not faced anyone with the scoring capability the Mustangs possessed, but it still kept up during most of the first half, only trailing by one, 6-5, at the break.
However, Marcellus would keep answering every time the Rams tried to catch up. The Mustangs won with a near-perfect scoring balance. Grace Coon had three goals and one assist, with five others – Colette Rigas, Maddie Conklin, Anna Vetsch, Abby Vetsch and Lily Powell – getting two goals apiece, Rigas adding two assists.
Also, goalie Rebecca Nutting thwarted J-D as she finished with nine saves. Katy Wangsness added a goal and Katherine Locastro picked up an assist. For J-D, three-goal hat tricks by Jill Rivasi and Lizzie O’Brien didn’t prove enough as Lindsay MacLachlan and Bess Murad chimed in with two goals apiece. Riley Burns had a goal and two assists.
A day later, Marcellus routed LaFayette 19-5, getting 10 points from Conklin as she accumulated six goals and four assists, while Locastro stepped up as she and Anna Vetsch both had three-goal hat tricks and Locastro added an assist.
Coon scored twice, contributing an assist, while Taylor Reich had a goal and two assists. Wangsness, Powell, Abby Vetsch and Sarah Hutchings also netted goals, with Rigas, Hutchings and Madison Green each adding an assist.
And this led to Friday’s game against Westhill, where Marcellus could clinch a regular-season league title – and it did so in the most emphatic way possible.
The Mustangs blasted the Warriors 19-4, controlling matters from start to finish and, more importantly, showing that it had plenty of depth on its attack as Abby Vetsch led with four goals and three assists, with Coon also scoring four times.
Just behind them, Rigas and Anna Vetsch both netted three goals, with Conklin contributing two goals and four assists. Reich and Powell both had one goal and one assist as Locastro also scored, with Wangsness and Kaleigh Kemp getting assists. Erin McMullen had two of Westhill’s four goals, the others going to Caroline Miller and Abby Stack.
Back on Tuesday, Westhill, who was no. 8 in those same state Class D rankings, roared to its most impressive win so far, a 21-8 romp over state no. 13-ranked Jordan-Elbridge.
From the outset, the Warriors took full advantage of the Eagles’ defensive woes, but it didn’t stay content when it grabbed a 9-4 lead by halftime. Instead, the margin kept growing as Sam VanBuren got five goals and three assists, with Haleigh Farrell scoring four times and adding one assist.
McMullen and Miller each got three goals and one assist, while Maura McAnaney had two goals and one assist. Rebecca Gilhooley had a goal and two assists. Katherine McPeak had one goal and one assist as Abby Stack and Reilly Geer also scored. Westhill goalie Morgan Elmer made 10 saves.
J-E could not keep pace, with Marissa Malvaso (four goals) the only Eagles player to find the net more than once. Alexis Fietta and Antonia Malvaso each had one goal and one assist as Alexis Braun and Katie Goodrich had the other goals.
From there, J-E went on to beat Bishop Ludden-Bishop Grimes 21-8 on Thursday, pulling away in the second half as Marissa Malvaso piled up four goals and three assists, with Miranda Malvaso adding three goals and three assists.
Fietta also scored three times, with Goodrich, Braun, Allison Jennings, Antonia Malvaso and Emily Somes each gaining a pair of goals. Alexandria Smart had the other goal as Delaney Dunham had two assists. For Ludden-Grimes, Emma Driscoll had three goals and one assist, with Rhonee Shea Pal adding two goals.
Before this, Ludden-Grimes made it back-to-back wins last Monday afternoon, putting away Onondaga 20-10 with a prolific attack that did most of the hard work during a dash to a 15-6 halftime lead.
Shea Pal and Molly McInerney each finished with five goals and two assists. Driscoll scored three times, adding three assists as Grace Lambrych got three goals and one assist. Emily Monroe found the net twice. Juliana Canetsrare and Katie Costello earned single goals, Canetsrare adding an assist.
Going for back-to-back wins on Saturday, Ludden-Grimes could not quite pull it off, falling 14-13 to Watertown IHC as it was held to three goals in the first half and could not quite catch the Cavaliers as both defenses struggled in the game’s latter stages.
Driscoll still had five goals and two assists, with Shea Pal and McInerney each scoring three times. Emily Monroe had the other two goals as, for IHC, Mandi McElheran had six goals and four assists, with Julia O’Brien adding five goals and one assist.
