Since it had gone 4-6 in Onondaga High School League play, the Cazenovia girls lacrosse team would make it to the Section III Class D playoffs.
In Saturday’s opening round, the no. 10 seed Lakers visited no. 7 seed Homer, with the winner advancing to Tuesday’s quarterfinal against no. 2 seed and defending champion South Jefferson.
And it was the Trojans who would move ahead, ending Cazenovia’s season in a 20-9 decision.
Steadily, Homer built an 8-3 advantage by halftime, and the margin doubled during the second half, even though the Lakers’ attack showed some improvement.
Molly Brown scored four times, with Grace Rajkowski and Molly Schwartz earning two goals apiece. Charley Harris added a goal and Kaitlyn Puffer got two assists as Mackenzie Halliday finished with five saves.
Homer had a well-balanced attack, with Mattie Riter and Caroline Riley each getting four goals and two assists, closely followed by three-goal hat tricks from Karly Roos and Katlyn Sovocool.
Prior to this, Cazenovia faced Tully last Wednesday afternoon and got off to a strong start, leading 3-0 early and continuing its strong play for the rest of the half as it led 5-4 at the break.
But the Black Knights took over in the second half and beat the Lakers 12-8, overcoming five goals by Brown as Rajkowski scored twice and Schwartz added a goal.
Puffer got two assists, with Laura Connor earning an assist. Alison Carr led Tully with five goals and two assists, helped by Gemma Guy (two goals, two assists) and Julia Dietz (three assists).
Thirteen seniors will graduate from this season’s Lakers squad, including Rajkowski, Connor, Puffer and Harris, while Schwartz and Brown lead the returning class for 2020.
As for Chittenango, whatever happened in its last two regular-season contests would not affect its fate, as it would miss the sectional Class C tournament.
Still, the Bears wanted to finish strong, and last Monday it took on Syracuse, a close battle that wasn’t decided until the final seconds, when Chittenango held on to win 9-8.
From a 4-4 halftime tie, the Bears pulled through with a three-pronged attack that saw Rhonee Shea Pal, Julia Graham and Ally Shoemaker each notch three-goal hat tricks, with Shoemaker adding an assist. Lizzy Goss made eight saves as Maggie Boyle (three goals) and Emma Cecile (two goals, one assist) paced Syracuse.
A day later, it was Chittenango against Homer, and the pace was quite different, the Bears playing a strong second half but unable to overcome a rough start in a 21-17 defeat to the Trojans.
It was 16-7 at halftime in Homer’s favor, the Trojans getting four goals and six assists from Mattie Riter as Beth Evans and Kloey Roos also scored four times.
Fighting back late, Chittenango featured Shea Pal amassing seven goals and four assists, with Shoemaker getting four goals and three assists. Julia Pynn scored three times and also had three assists, Graham converting twice and Ashley Thompson adding a goal.
The Bears finished at 5-11, with just six seniors graduating, including Pynn, but the likes of Shea Pal, Shoemaker, Thompson, Goss and Graham all set to return next spring.
