For more than a decade, the Fayetteville-Manlius girls lacrosse team had strove hard to add a third state championship to the two it earned in the middle of the previous decade.
Another chance to do so presented itself Saturday afternoon at SUNY-Cortland, where the Hornets took on Long Island champion Eastport-South Manor and, never able to get out in front, took a 9-7 defeat to the Sharks.
“Some of the shots that normally fall in our favor did not do so this time,” said F-M head coach Kelly Tormey.
This was the second time in three years the Hornets were in the state title game. Garden City had proven too tough for F-M in 2017, and the Sharks tried to put things away early, too, roaring to a 3-0 lead before the game was five minutes old.
A Hornets timeout proved effective as Katie Shanley, Maddie Herodes and Annie Steigerwald hit on consecutive goals to tie it, 3-3, but that respite proved brief.
Right after a point-blank stop by Eastport goalie Katie Vahle kept F-M from going in front, the Sharks went back in front 5-3 on goals by Katie McCormick and Aidan Carlson, while blanking the Hornets for more than 12 minutes until Steigerwald converted again late in the half.
F-M’s defense, led by Christina Burnam, Lexi Kellish and Laura Bonomo, kept the game in sight, and Maddie Noel converted on a free-position shot 3.2 seconds before halftime, cutting the Sharks’ margin to 6-5.
Each team continued to defend well deep into the second half, and that hurt F-M, who only got a single goal from Katie Shanley that answered one from Ellie Masera, and then was blanked for another long stretch, this one covering more than 15 minutes.
Similar to the state Class A final, when Northport beat Baldwinsville 10-8, the Sharks seemed content holding the ball once it had its two-goal margin, but then Notre Dame-bound Sharks senior Kelsey Choma charged to the net and converted with 4:14 left.
That goal meant more when Kiera Shanley answered it less than a minute later to cut the margin back to two, but Eastport picked up the ensuing draw and ran out the remaining clock, with the frustrated Hornets drawing four yellow cards and seeing Vahle make the last of her seven saves in the waning seconds.
A day earlier, F-M got back to the title game with a hard-fought 12-9 victory over Suffern (Section I) in Friday’s state Class B semifinal, which reflected what took place in the Section III title game against Auburn a week earlier.
Just as against the Maroons, the Hornets fell behind early, and was down 4-1 when it took a timeout with 9:59 left in the first half. Just 27 seconds later, Kiera Shanley scored off a feed from Gemma Addonizio, and everything turned.
For the rest of the half, F-M dominated, adding five more unanswered goals, two of them by Katie Shanley, with Kiera Shanley and Maddie Noel adding goals. The Hornets now led 7-4, and would not get caught.
Suffern tried, though, as the Mounties pushed F-M and moved within one, 9-8, with more than 10 minutes. Then, in the game’s crucial sequence, goalie Natalie Cassalia made a point-blank stop to prevent Suffern from tying it, and seconds later Kiera Shanley found the net again.
Katie Shanley and Annie Steigerwald added late goals, Katie finishing with four goals and three assists as Kiera Shanley got three goals and one assist. Noel and Kaylee Steigerwald each scored twice.
The success against Suffern did not carry over into the state final against Eastport-South Manor, but falling short in the title game did not diminish anything F-M had accomplished just to get this far.
“They have no reason to hang their heads,” said Tormey. “This is the toughest group, mentally and physically, that I’ve ever seen. They should be proud.”
