Even if its level of play might not quite match what it did during its long championship run, the Cazenovia field hockey team is still making improvements and showing that it can deliver clutch moments.
Twice this fall, the Lakers have prevailed in overtime, doing so again last Monday at Burton Street Elementary as Homer pushed it beyond regulation, but Cazenovia won it 2-1.
Cavy Monahan had the best game of her varsity career, netting a first-half goal assisted by Katie Ammann and then emerging again after Vivi Knobel, off a feed from Isabelle Case, tied it for Homer with just 1:33 left in regulation.
During the seven-on-seven OT period, Monahan broke open and, off a feed from Ava Hartley, put in the game-winning shot. Homer, in defeat, got eight total saves from goalies Emma Narrow and Emily Daniels.
So began the busiest week of the season for the Lakers as it traveled Wednesday to Liverpool, where it hoped to take advantage of the Warriors’ season-long struggles, but lost by a 2-0 margin.
Cazenovia’s defense kept it 0-0 throughout the first half. But though Shea Flannery made nine saves, she could not prevent Liverpool’s RileyTechmanski to net one goal and assist on Olivia Hayden’s tally in the late stages.
Then it was on to the O’Connor Classic at Camden, which began on Friday with the Lakers taking on the host Blue Devils, the defending Section III Class B champions.
It proved quite rough as Camden handled Cazenovia 7-0, with six different goal-scorers. Only Mackenzie Mix converted twice for the Blue Devils as single goals went to Abby Walker, Delaney Alberico, Mercedes Currie, Lily Sullivan and Ariel Cronsier, Walker and Alberico adding assists.
After falling 2-0 to Vestal (Section IV) on Saturday in a consolation game where Flannery made 12 saves, the Lakers faced three more games this week, going to Homer Tuesday and meeting Port Byron/Union Springs on Thursday prior to a Saturday trip to Fayetteville-Manlius.
