Having all repeated as Section III champions, the girls lacrosse teams at Jamesville-DeWitt, Fayetteville-Manlius and Christian Brothers Academy pulled off a sweep of Saturday’s regional finals at Corning High School.
This didn’t happen in 2017, when Vestal toppled J-D in Class C as F-M and CBA moved on to the state final four. Now they’ll all go to SUNY-Cortland to play on the last weekend of the season.
J-D had the most difficult time, going back and forth in a rematch with Vestal but managing to take the lead late and lean on its defense to preserve a 10-8 victory over the Golden Bears.
Just as it did in its sectional final win over Fulton earlier in the week, the game with Vestal went back and forth in the first half, though not at the same fast pace, and just like then J-D finished that half on top by a single goal, 6-5, far from safe.
The exchange continued deep into the second half until J-D’s defense made a timely stand. Ali Durkin, Sydney Baum, Arysa Lux, Payton Riley and the rest of the Rams’ back line disrupted Vestal often, and when it was needed, goalie Skyler Constantino came up with some crucial stops.
As it held on late, J-D saw Katie Lutz work her total to four goals and Ana Dieroff score three times. Riley Burns had a goal and two assists as Lindsay MacLachlan got one goal and one assist, with the other goal going to Riley LaTray.
Two days earlier, in the opening round of regionals, J-D romped past Massena (Section X) 18-4 at Potsdam High School.
Burns scored four times and MacLachlan got a three-goal hat trick. Lutz had two goals, as did LaTray. Emily Bobrek had a goal and two assists as Chloe and Lily Loewenguth each got one goal and one assist, as did Jordan Archer.
Just before J-D earned its regional victory, F-M did so, though with far less uncertainty as it jumped all over Horseheads and didn’t let up until it had recorded a 20-6 win.
Quite unlike the tense sectional final with Auburn that wasn’t decided until Annie Steigerwald’s last-minute goal, F-M was in control from the moment Steigerwald scored just 43 seconds into the game with Gemma Addonizio, Amanda Cramer and Katie Shanley all quickly striking, too, to make it 4-0.
More would follow as Cramer, with four goals and two assists, led the way ahead of Addonizio, Kiera Shanley and Annie Steigerwald with three goals apiece. Katie Shanley and Kaylee Steigerwald both had two goals, Kaylee adding a pair of assists.
It was 11-0 before Horseheads got on the board, 14-2 by halftime and the Hornets still found time to get goals from Ava Angello, Tomlin Cicci and Melanie Steigerwald as Noel and Katherine Amico earned assists.
After F-M and J-D had won, CBA had its turn in the Class A regional final, taking on Ithaca and nearly squandering a massive lead before pushing past the Little Red 11-7.
Nothing seemed wrong during the first half. Goals by Olivia Penoyer and Anna Ziemba got the Brothers going, but things really took off after Ithaca got on the board and cut its early deficit to 2-1.
Ziemba would strike twice more for an early hat trick. Penoyer and Claire Jeschke scored, too, and when Grace Hulslander hit on a pair of goals late in the half, CBA had a 9-1 margin.
And it got to 10-1 thanks to Ziemba’s fourth goal early in the second half. Here, though, CBA seemed to relax, and just like West Genesee did in the sectional final, the Little Red almost made them pay for it.
Six straight goals by Ithaca cut the margin to 10-7, and were it not for two point-blank stops from goalie Iris Vinal in the waning minutes, it may have turned more stressful.
Overall, Vinal had 13 saves, one of her highest totals of the season, and with a late goal from Jeschke sealing it, CBA assured itself another state final four berth.
A full slate of state semifinals take place Friday at SUNY-Cortland, with each of the sectional champions having to face powerful teams from Long Island.
At 9 a.m. in Class C, J-D faces Cold Spring Harbor. Then, after South Jefferson goes up against Mattituck-Southold in Class D, at 1 p.m. it’s CBA against West Islip in Class A and, finally, at 3 p.m. F-M plays its Class B state semifinal against Manhasset. All of the finals are Saturday, starting at 9 a.m.
