With three games in three successive weeks, there simply wasn’t much time for the Cazenovia field hockey team to recuperate and get in a consistent number of practices, at least until the regular season ended.
So the Lakers had to just go to work and appreciate those times when the games weren’t as tense as its 2-1 win over Liverpool on Sept. 22. Three days later, meeting Homer at Burton Street, Cazenovia got a relative breather and bashed the Trojans 7-0.
During a first-half blitz, the Lakers converted half a dozen times to seize a 6-0 lead. Zoe Shephard again led that charge, the Princeton-bound senior eventually getting a three-goal hat trick, but there was plenty of support, too.
Mikaylee Whalen and Emily Dolbear both finished with one goal and one assist. Katie Ammann and Betsy Chanatry also found the net as Molly Brown picked up an assist. And all of this came despite 32 saves from Homer goalie Tasie Fox.
It expected to get a lot tougher Wednesday at Port Byron against a team that pushed the Lakers to a 2-2 draw on Sept. 8. Less than three weeks later, on the Panthers’ home field, Cazenovia made sure that didn’t happen again, riding a big first half to a 5-2 victory over the Panthers.
To earn its sixth straight victory, the Lakers attacked hard from the outset, and the result was four first-half goals, a pace Port Byron could not keep up with as Shephard ultimately finished with two goals and one assist.
Taking 22 shots and earning 22 penalty corners, Cazenovia had Ammann, Chanatry and Margaret Kmetz join Shephard in the goal-scoring column, with Brown adding an assist. Shea Flannery recorded eight saves, overcoming goals by the Panthers’ Jordyn Baker and Hannah Mertens.
Cazenovia sought its seventh win in a row in much cooler conditions Friday against Cato-Meridian at Burton Street, This followed the pattern of the Homer game as the Lakers attacked at will, scored quite often and rolled past the Blue Devils 8-0.
With a shot total that stretched to 34 and four scoring plays in each half, Cazenovia got its best scoring balance of the season. Only Peyton Clarke scored twice, with Shephard, Brown and Cavy Monahan each getting one goal and one assist. Whalen notched two assists as senior captain Molly LaHart joined Ammann and Chanatry in earning single goals.
And this leads to a first week of October that starts with back-to-back games Tuesday and Wednesday against Weedsport and concludes Friday night with a highly-anticipated match against reigning Section III Class A champion Baldwinsville at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium.
The Bees, led by senior forward Amanda Strenk (who has 19 goals this season), won its first eight games before Whitney Point, who knocked off Cazenovia in each of the last two state Class C finals, hammered B’ville 6-1 on the last day of September.
