Back on April 28, the Cazenovia girls lacrosse team had a chance to reach the .500 mark, if it could prevail in an Onondaga High School League game against LaFayette.
But the Lakers took an 11-10 defeat to the Lancers, unable to hold on to the slim 5-4 advantage it built during the first half despite another big effort from Chloe Willard, who gained seven goals and one assist.
Mikaylee Whalen had two goals and one assist, with Hope King getting the other goal. Most of LaFayette’s production came from Charlotte Ryan (six goals, one assist) and Mya DeJoseph (four goals, one assist) as Celia Bertlesman had the other goal.
Two more games followed in the first week of May, and the Lakers passed the first test against Homer on Wednesday night, fighting its way to a 12-7 victory over the Trojans.
Dominating the first half, Cazenovia jumped to a 7-1 edge, then matched all of Homer’s late charges with Willard working her way to six goals and Whalen scoring four times, plus an assist.
Lauren Burbidge got one goal and one assist, with the other goal going to Emmie Dolbear as Kaitlyn Puffer picked up an assist.
Still at home on Saturday, Cazenovia faced Rome Free Academy and, with another chance to get its record to the break-even mark (6-6), had another close, painful defeat, falling 9-8 to the Black Knights.
A strong first half had the Lakers in front 6-5, yet it got shut down late as RFA edged in front behind the duo of Katherine Migliori and Sydney Stamboly, who each had three goals and one assist.
Little production developed from Cazenovia on offense outside of Willard’s six-goal effort. Whalen and Charley Harris had the only other goals as Rajkowski got two assists. Single assists went to Puffer, Laurra Connor and Ren Brown.
Chittenango returned to action last Monday with its own game against Homer, where it lost 18-6 to a Trojans side that got six goals and two assists from Karly Roos as Mattie Ritter added four goals and five assists.
Ally Shoemaker gave the Bears a three-goal hat trick. Sarah Martin, Alyssa Frantz, Taylor Glazier and Julia Pynn also had a part in goals as assists got credited to Tiffany Scofield and Kaiden Williams. Hailee Watt finished with eight saves.
In last Tuesday’s match with state Class D no. 4-ranked Westhill, Chittenango took an 18-4 defeat, watching the Warriors jump out 11-1 in the first half, led by Reilly Geer (six goals) and Rebecca Gilhooley (two goals, six assists).
Glazier did manage to net three of the Bears’ four goals, with Williams adding one goal and one assist. Watt finished with eight saves.
Then Chittenango had its own game with LaFayette on Thursday and lost, 15-3, to the Lancers. Glazier scored twice and Kendra Fraser added a goal, with Pynn getting an assist.
However, 14 of the Bears’ 17 shots were stopped by Lancers goalie Claire Frier, helping a cause where Ryan, with five goals and one assist, helped LaFayette overcome 10 saves by Watt.
A 16-2 defeat to Clinton followed on Friday night, Chittenango only getting goals from Tiffany Scofield and Julia Graham, with Maddie Flack adding an assist. The Warriors’ Georgia Zoller and Elyse Jackson had four goals apiece as Sarah Owens had three goals and two assists.
