No one in Section III field hockey carries as much momentum into the playoff as the Cazenovia Lakers, winners of 12 in a row, most of them routine, but some of them spectacular.
From a standpoint of excitement, it was impossible to follow the Lakers’ 5-4 overtime win at defending sectional Class A champion Baldwinsville on Oct. 6, but it still had one more home game and didn’t want to disappoint the fans at Burton Street.
Cazenovia beat Moravia 5-0 last Tuesday afternoon, but it wasn’t a rout right away. The Lakers only managed a single goal in the first half before its pressure, and the work of Zoe Shephard, led to a surge after intermission.
Shephard scored twice, and assisted on Cazenovia’s three other goals, one each by Katie Ammann, Peyton Clarke and Emmie Dolbear. Molly Brown picked up an assist on one of Shephard’s tallies.
Meanwhile, Mikaylee Whalen, Molly LaHart and the rest of the Lakers’ defense shored things up from the B’ville game, earning its seventh shutout of the season and protecting Shea Flannery, who only had to make five saves, barely more than the four she had in overtime against the Bees.
Thursday’s regular-season finale at Homer gave the Lakers a chance to show off its skills, and it did so, stretching the win streak to 12 in an 8-0 decision where Shephard set a season mark by piling up five goals.
Aside from that, many different Cazenovia players got involved in the attack. Ammann, Clarke and Samantha Morgan picked up one goal apiece, with Whalen, Dolbear and Margaret Kmetz each getting one assist.
Cazenovia again drew the top seed for the sectional Class C playoffs. With six teams in the field, the Lakers have a bye directly into the semifinals this Sunday at 5 p.m. at Fayetteville-Manlius, where it will face the winner of Wednesday’s game between no. 4 seed Holland Patent and no. 5 seed Canastota.
