With one more opportunity in front of their home crowds, three area girls lacrosse teams swept through Tuesday night’s Section III Class D quarterfinals, two of them earning a date with each other in the next round.
Top seed Skaneateles ran over no. 8 seed LaFayette in the first half on the way to a 19-8 victory, while no. 4 seed Marcellus turned back no. 5 seed General Brown 19-14 and no. 3 seed Westhill ousted no. 6 seed Tully 15-10.
Favored going into the sectional tournament, Skaneateles, who sat at no. 4 in last week’s state Class D rankings, did little against LaFayette to discourage that line of thinking.
It was 3-0 Lakers before the game was two minutes old, 5-0 before the four-minute mark and the Lancers could do little to contain Skaneateles until there was a running clock late in the first half.
Up 14-3 at the break, the Lakers eased up late, but not before Riley Brogan and Grace Dower each finished with seven points, Brogan getting five goals and two assists while Dower had two goals and five assists.
Olivia Navaroli and Maggie Newton matched each other with three goals and two assists, Gabby Welch also scoring three times. Anna McGlynn had one goal and one assist as defender Olivia Dobrovosky also had an assist.
Meanwhile, down the road at Marcellus, the state no. 7-ranked Mustangs would find it more difficult to put away a General Brown side that proved quite potent and tough.
A high-scoring first half saw the Lions constantly convert, yet still not keep up with Marcellus, who established a 12-7 margin that it would protect against all of GB’s late-game charges.
Sarah Hutchings scored five times to lead the Mustangs, Katy Wangness getting four goals and one assist as Maisie Moses finished with three goals and one assist.
In addition to her pair of goals, Anna Vetsch notched four assists. Lily Locastro and Laura Canny also had two-goal outings as Natalie Clere added a goal. For the Lions, Bailey Thomas produced four goals and five assists.
At Westhill, the state no. 5-ranked Warriors built a strong margin against Tully in the first half, steadily working its way to a 9-3 advantage.
That allowed Westhill to withstand Tully’s late charge, seeing Rebecca Gilhooley lead the way again as she scored four times and added three assists as Grace Winkler added three goals.
Reilly Geer and Grace Dwyer each found the net twice, with Caroline Miller, Gianna Zerrillo, Ellie Masterpole and Kendra MacCaull each getting single goals. Franny Argentieri made 10 saves as Gemma Guy paced Tully with four goals and one assist.
They all advanced to the sectional semifinals Thursday at East Syracuse Minoa Stadium, where Skaneateles (13-4) and Marcellus (11-5) meet up less than two weeks after the Lakers blasted the Mustangs 17-6 in their regular-season encounter, while Westhill (15-2) tries to topple no. 2 seed and defending champion South Jefferson.
