While things were not at a crisis point as the first half of Friday afternoon’s state Class D semifinal wound down at SUNY-Cortland, the Skaneateles girls lacrosse team had some reason for concern.
The Lakers only trailed Section V champion Palmyra-Macedon by a single goal, but had enjoyed most of the scoring chances in the half, only to get thwarted on a consistent basis by Red Raiders goalie Sophia Leva.
This is what made Grace Dower’s goal 1.7 seconds before halftime so crucial. Not only did it tie the game, it gave Skaneateles momentum that carried over into the second half for a four-goal spurt that proved the difference as the Lakers went on to prevail 10-7.
As far as experience went, Skaneateles, an annual state final four visitor, had a big advantage on Palmyra-Macedon, the Section V champions who were here for the first time. Yet it was the Red Raiders getting on the board first with Andrea Savage’s goal, though Riley Brogan answered it a minute later.
Kyla Sears, who missed the Lakers’ 2016 state finals appearance with a knee injury, converted twice in the first half, but also was stopped twice by Leva on free-position shots. Energized by that, the Raiders reclaimed the lead, 4-3, on Jamie Walker’s goal at the 17:58 mark.
And there it stayed as the Lakers possessed the ball in the last minute of the half. When Dower’s shot eluded Leva right before the horn, all of Palmyra-Macedon’s work had amounted to a 4-4 draw.
Now it was Skaneateles with all of the momentum, and it pounced early in the second half. Within the first two minutes, Olivia Navaroli had registered back-to-back goals, each of them assisted by Brogan.
When Sears earned her third goal to make it 7-4, the Red Raiders called a time-out, but Sears returned to convert again and, in a matter of seven minutes, Skaneateles had matched its entire output from the first half.
Even when Palmyra-Macedon cut the margin to 8-5, the Lakers didn’t flinch, instead possessing the ball and slowing down the game’s tempo, which it could afford to do. From it, Sears scored for a fifth time with 9:58 left, and then assisted on Abby Kuhns’ goal less than 90 seconds later.
That proved enough, as a pair of late Red Raiders goals proved too late. On Saturday, Skaneateles will seek the state Class D championship when it takes on Bronxville (Section I), who overcame its own first-half deficit to beat Mattituck-Southold 13-7 in the other semifinal.
