CENTRAL NEW YORK – Having already played in all kinds of weather conditions against all kind of opposition, the Cazenovia girls lacrosse team hopes to take all it has learned and channel it into improved play in the latter half of the regular season.
The Lakers were 2-3 going into last Tuesday’s game at Mexico, but reached the break-even mark again with a 16-9 victory over the Tigers where it steadily worked its way to 9-4 advantage by halftime.
Pulling further away late, Cazenovia saw Julia Reff score four times to lead a deep, well-balanced attack where Riley Knapp and Madison DeAngelis each scored twice and got a pair of assists.
Charlie Prior and Hayden Bubble equaled each other with two goals and one assist. Maren Smith chimed in with a goal and three assists as Katie Rajkowski, Izzy Stromer-Galley and Sally Hughes also found the net.
On Saturday, Cazenovia tried to get above that .500 mark when it met Southern Hills, the new team formed by a combined group from LaFayette, Tully and Onondaga.
But the Lakers lost, 18-12, to the Storm, who built an 11-6 halftime advantage and thwarted every comeback attempt, led by Kensington Keane’s five goals and three assists.
In defeat, Cazenovia got three-goal hat tricks from Reff, Knapp and Rajkowski, with Prior scoring twice. DeAngelis added a goal and two assists as Smith also had an assist.
Chittenango, still without a victory in 2023 going into the week, was kept off the board last Tuesday in a 16-0 defeat to Westhill. Abby Penfield made 12 saves, but couldn’t keep everything out as Adelaide Lowery led Westhill with five goals and two assists.
There was vast improvement by the Bears in Thursday’s game against unbeaten Whitesboro, who came into the game with a 4-0 record, but found itself tied, 4-4, at halftime.
Unable to keep up all the way to the end, Chittenango lost, 11-7, but not before Brooke Walters had netted a three-goal hat trick and Caitlyn Sgambellone had scored twice. Cara Kielbasa added one goal and one assist and Penfield once again finished with 12 saves. Maria Stuhlman (four goals) and Kaelyn Barry (three goals) led Whitesboro.
A closer game followed on Saturday, but Chittenango still lost to Carthage 9-6, watching the Comets break out of a 3-3 halftime tie despite Sgambellone and Persephone Rohrer getting two goals apiece and goals from Alazyah Smith and Sequoya Roberts. Isabelle Wormwood gave Carthage three goals and four assists.
