Apparently, Kiera Shanley and Annie Steigerwald are both morning people.
This pair of Fayetteville-Manlius girls lacrosse attackers saved their most productive effort of the season for Friday morning’s state Class B semifinal at SUNY-Cortland, where their combined 12 goals – eight by Shanley, four by Steigerwald – helped the Hornets fight off a strong challenge from Section V champion Canandaigua to prevail 17-11.
Despite the 9 a.m. start time, F-M was fresh and alert from the outset, attacking the net and drawing three free-position shots that led to goals, two of them by Annie Steigerwald.
Kiera Shanley had the other goal, and she was far from done. Twice, she converted off feeds from her sister, Katie, and that formed the basis for a 6-2 lead before the game was nine minutes old.
Gradually, Canandaigua made its way back, tearing through the Hornets’ defenses and, despite a fourth goal from Kiera Shanley and another from Amanda Cramer, tying the game at 8-8 late in the first half.
In the waning seconds of the half, Shanley struck for her fifth goal and, just before the horn, goalie Elizabeth Brady made a point-blank stop to prevent the Braves from answering it, so F-M took a slim 9-8 lead to the break.
They would go back and forth early in the second half – Canandaigua three times tying it, F-M three times reclaiming the lead thanks to goals by Shanley (her sixth), Steigerwald and Sydney DeGiralomo.
It was Steigerwald completing her hat trick with 11:50 left that put the Hornets ahead for good. Four minutes later, Shanley scored for the seventh time on a free position, and Steigerwald returned to stretch the margin to three with 4:58 to play.
Most importantly, the Hornets controlled the late draws, and instead of sitting on its lead the way other teams might do, it kept pulling away.
Joining in the fun with their sisters, Kaylee Steigerwald’s goal with 3:28 left, and Katie Shanley converted a minute later to seal it before Kiera returned in the game’s final minute to pick up an eighth goal.
In Saturday’s state final (which also starts at 9 a.m.), F-M will face Long Island powerhouse Garden City, owner of more state titles (14) than any other girls lacrosse program. The Trojans pulled away to beat Yorktown 19-8 in the other state semifinal.
