For the first time, the East Syracuse Minoa girls lacrosse team found itself in the Section III Class C playoffs, poised as the no. 2 seed with the ultimate objective trying to take down top seed and two-time defending champion Jamesville-DeWitt.
First, though, the Spartans had to make it through two early-round tests, starting with Monday’s quarterfinal against no. 7 seed Whitesboro, which proved a bit stressful, but still ESM defeated the Warriors 15-10.
It was an active first half, both sides putting together sustained scoring runs, and it took every bit of ESM’s skill to fight its way to an 8-7 advantage going to the break.
During the second half, the Spartans’ defense showed vast improvement, containing Whitesboro as Anna James worked her total to 11 saves, three more than Warriors counterpart Savanna Thomas.
Meanwhile, Rileigh White was accumulating five goals, leading an ESM attack where Katherine Andrus and Julianna Barton each scored three times, Andrus adding two assists.
Emma Biel finished with two goals and one assist. Kelly Thomas and Sydney Carnival scored, too, with Thomas earning an assist. Madison Davis and Gracie Stuhlman each had three goals for Whitesboro, with Davis notching a pair of assists.
A day later, ESM found out that it would face no. 3 seed Fulton (who beat Watertown 17-9) in Thursday’s semifinals at Christian Brothers Academy’s Alibrandi Stadium, right after J-D meets no. 4 seed Cortland.
To get there, the Red Rams first had to navigate through Tuesday’s quarterfinal with New Hartford, which didn’t prove too stressful as J-D blasted those other Spartans 19-2, while Cortland eliminated Carthage 16-5.
During the first half, J-D put away New Hartford, shutting them out while accumulating 12 unanswered goals. And despite a running clock, the Rams kept adding to that margin.
Riley LaTray scored five times and added three assists, leading J-D as Lindsay MacLachlan and Lily Loewenguth both netted three goals and MacLachlan got an assist.
Kailey McKenna and Emily Bobrek both produced two goals and two assists, with Everly Kessler adding two goals and one assist. Ana Dieroff had a goal and two assists as Chloe Loewenguth also found the net.
