For the first time last Tuesday night, the Marcellus girls lacrosse team took the field with someone other than Dick Lundblad coaching them.
Lundblad, who led the Mustangs’ program from its inception in the late 1990s and whose teams won 233 games overall, stepped down last summer, and Marcellus tapped Zach Iannicello to take over for 2018.
Iannicello inherits a program still in search of its first-ever Section III title, and hungry after getting to the top of the state Class D rankings last spring, only to fall in the sectional semifinals to South Jefferson.
For its opener, Marcellus faced the combined Bishop Ludden-Bishop Grimes-Onondaga side, and easily prevailed 17-3, getting four goals apiece from the duo of Lily Powell and Grace Coon, who each added single assists. Madison Green scored twice and got two assists, while Anna Vetsch and Katherine Locastro both gained two goals and one assist.
Sarah Hutchings and Maisie Moses matched each other with one goal and one assist as Katy Wangsness amassed three assists and Kenai Cameron had the other goal. Emma Driscoll had all three of Ludden/Grimes/OCS’s goals.
Back in action Saturday against Niskayuna (Section II), the Mustangs would slip with a 10-9 defeat to the Silver Warriors, not what Marcellus was looking for as reigning state Class D champion Skaneateles geared up for a visit on Tuesday night.
Westhill went to Cicero-North Syracuse last Tuesday night, and played tremendous defense throughout that contest, yet still took a 6-5 defeat to the Northstars.
For the first 13-plus minutes, the Warriors did not even get a shot as C-NS controlled the possession and gained a 3-0 lead. But with back-to-back goals by Rebecca Gilhooley, Westhill pulled within one, 3-2, where it stayed at halftime.
Katelyn Karleski scored early in the second half to tie it, 3-3, and after the Northstars regained a two-goal edge, the Warriors rallied again, Karleski tacking on two more goals, including one with 7:03 left.
That 5-5 tie lasted less than 90 seconds as Olivia Massena pushed C-NS back in front, her team having overcome the 11 saves put up by Westhill goalie Morgan Elmer. Westhill had a possession in the final seconds to force overtime, but could not convert.
Thursday’s game with LaFayette was postponed by the cold weather, and though other local teams such as Jordan-Elbridge would stay idle until this week, Ludden-Grimes-OCS lost 17-4 to Liverpool on Saturday afternoon.
Driscoll scored twice for Ludden-Grimes-OCS, with the other goals going to Katie Costello and Rhonee Shea Pal. Liverpool had nine different goal-scorers, with Abby Hope (four goals, two assists) and Brittany Halpin (three goals, three assists) setting the pace.
