On Thursday night, the Marcellus and Westhill girls lacrosse teams will meet each other, connected beyond their usual rivalry.
New Mustangs head coach Zach Iancello spent two years as an assistant at Westhill to Brittany Brigandi before succeeding Dick Lundblad this season, only adding to the sense of familiarity the programs have.
In the lead-up to this game, both sides were quite busy attempting to build their win totals, but one factor already separated them – namely, how they fared in home games against the reigning state Class D champions from Skaneateles.
The Mustangs handled the Lakers on April 10. Nine days later, when the Warriors got its chance, it could not quite do the same, taking an 11-9 defeat.
Conditions were far from ideal as snow fell throughout the game, but the bigger problem Westhill faced was its inability to contain Skaneateles attacker Riley Brogan.
Starting to grow into the role of main scoring threat that Kyla Sears occupied during the 2017 state title run, Brogan burned Westhill for five goals and added four assists, giving her 26 goals and nine assists for the season.
Yet Westhill couldn’t key on Brogan because Olivia Navaroli (three goals, one assist) and Grace Dower (two goals, one assist) offered ample support.
Katherine McPeak paced Westhill with three goals and one assist as Katelyn Karleski got two goals and two assists. Maura McAnaney also found the net twice, contributing an assist as single goals went to Reilly Geer and Caroline Miller. In the net, Morgan Elmer recorded nine saves.
Marcellus played three times last week, starting with a game against Cazenovia on the Christakos Field turf at Cazenovia College where the Mustangs held off the Lakers 14-12.
With the Marcellus defense bent on containing Cazenovia star Chloe Willard, it freed things up for Mikaylee Whalen, who set a career mark with six goals as Willard only got two goals.
But Marcellus stayed in front because it got five goals from Grace Coon and four goals from Lily Powell, with Katherine Locastro earning four assists to go with her three-goal hat trick. Katy Wangsness earned four assists and Anna Vetsch got two goals as Maisie Moses and Madison Green had one assist apiece.
A day later, Marcellus faced Tully, and while it proved close again, the Mustangs prevailed 11-7, with Vetsch picking up four goals and Sarah Hutchings scoring twice. Goals also went to Coon and Locastro.
This busy week for Marcellus concluded on Friday with another tough test, this one against LaFayette, but the Mustangs did enough to outscore the Lancers 15-12.
Building a 10-5 advantage by halftime, Marcellus hung on behind Katherine Locastro’s five goals and three assists. Wangsness scored three times, plus an assist as Vetsch, Powell and Lily Locastro had two goals apiece. Hutchings got the other goal as Charlotte Ryan (four goals, Mya DeJoseph (three goals, three assists) and Carha Williams (three goals, two assists) led LaFayette.
Bishop Ludden/Bishop Grimes/Onondaga dropped a 21-6 decision to Christian Brothers Academy last Tuesday night at Alibrandi Stadium.
Most of Emma Driscoll’s five goals came after the Brothers established a 17-2 halftime advantage. Maddie Moon had the other goal as Olivia Penoyer (five goals), Grace Hulslander (four goals, one assist) and Claire Jeschke (two goals, four assists) led CBA.
However, Ludden/Grimes/OCS would get into the win column on a snow-covered Thursday, defeating Mexico 14-5 as it dominated the second half, outscoring the Tigers 9-2 to break open a close one.
Here, Driscoll, who still had four goals and three assists, got lots of help from Rhonee Shea Pal, who scored four times and added four assists. Gabby Oswald stepped up, too, with three goals and two assists as Julia Wachna got the other goal.
On Saturday, Ludden/Grimes/OCS had its own game against Cazenovia, and lost a narrow 9-8 decision, unable to stop Willard, who netted seven of the Lakers’ nine goals.
Far more balanced, Ludden/Grimes/OCS had Driscoll score three times, adding an assist. Alyssa Myer had two goals, with Shea Pal, Oswald and Wachna adding one goal apiece.
Jordan-Elbridge played Friday and lost a 16-15 thriller to Homer, even though Alexis Braun set a career mark with nine goals and Gabby Gunnip got three goals, with Katie Goodrich adding two goals and three assists. Chelsea Curtis also had a goal.
The Trojans prevailed because it had far more depth, with eight different goal-scorers, twice the Eagles’ total. Mattie Riter paced Homer with five goals and one assist as Karly Roos added four goals.
