CENTRAL NEW YORK – Most of the area’s high school girls lacrosse teams have experienced Section III championships in the last two decades and, in the case of Fayetteville-Manlius and Christian Brothers Academy, have gone further to state titles.
Few local games, though, might top what happened when F-M and Jamesville-DeWitt got together last Tuesday in the season opener for both sides.
A classic back-and-forth battle ensued, with both sides making sustained scoring runs and the battle not getting decided until the final seconds.
Only there did the Red Rams emerge with a satisfying 13-12 win over the Hornets, keyed in many ways by the work of goalie Mary Keib, who stopped 13 different F-M shots.
On the other end, Merris Kessler and Brooke Bort each recorded three-goal hat tricks. Caroline Stone scored twice and added two assists, with Macy Durkin getting two goals and one assist. Single goals went to Ava Mone, Alexis Scaramuzzino and Sadie Withers.
F-M was led by Julianna Cogliandro’s game-best five goals. Emily Noel scored three times and got an assist as Taylor Novack had two goals. Grace Reyna earned a goal and three assists, Anne Leonard adding a goal.
As a follow-up on Thursday, F-M lost, 13-7, to Pittsford on Thursday afternoon. Cogliandro, Leonard and Taylor Novack had two goals apeice, with Noel adding the other goal as Reyna picked up an assist.
Then it was F-M against CBA on Saturday afternoon, and the Hornets were able to break its early skid, controlling matters from the outset and beating the Brothers 15-7.
With a top line converting at will, F-M saw Novack and Cogliandro both score five times, Novack adding two assists, while Noel notched six assists to go with her trio of goals. Leonard and Kathryn McNany had one goal apiece.
All this helped overcome 11 saves from CBA goalie Maddie Evans. Maeve Mackenzie had two goals and three assists, with Lilah Kirch also converting twice. Amelia Bonacci, Sydney Vaughn and Mia Kirchhad the other goals.
CBA, attempting to reclaim some of its former glory, had quite an impressive start last Monday against Central Square, doing most things right while beating the Redhawks 16-5.
Mackenzie, with four goals and one assists, led a potent Brothers attack where Bonacci and Lilah Kirch also had three-goal hat tricks, combining for three assists. Mia Kirch and Allie Quinn had two goals apiece, with Madison Cecilia and Emery McCartney adding single goals.
As for J-D, after it beat F-M it faced West Genesee Saturday and lost 13-5 to the Wildcats.
Only Kessler scored twice, the other goals going to Bort, Mone and Durkin, who added two assists. Ashleigh Blanding (four goals, one assist) , Mia Giatto (three goals) and Olivia Blanding (one goal, four assists) led WG.
East Syracuse Minoa had its season opener last Thursday against Whiteboro, not quite able to keep up with the Spartans in a 10-6 defeat. Madison Wood and Rylyn Commisso had three goals apiece, accounting for all of the Spartans’ production.
