CENTRAL NEW YORK – For the second year in a row, the Jamesville-DeWitt girls lacrosse team got to the brink of a Section III Class C championship, only to get turned back.
In this case, it was a first-time champion, Indian River, who denied the Red Rams, claiming a 9-8 thriller in Tuesday’s sectional final at Christian Brothers Academy’s Alibrandi Stadium.
J-D, the no. 2 seed, trailed much of the way against the top-seeded Warriors, only to go in front late in the second half before IR, led mostly by junior Ravan Marsell, made all the plays it needed to in order to pull it out.
The Rams never got on the board until the 15:49 mark of the first half when Ava Mone score, yet only trailed 3-0 because its defense kept making important stops.
This sparked a charge late in the half where Merris Kessler, Sadie Withers and Macy Durkin all converted before Marsell, hining at what she would do later, scored and broke a 4-4 tie right before the break.
Again, the Rams fell into a three-goal deficit at 7-4 and, again, it came back, Campbell Endries’ goal leading to those by Kessler and Durkin. And when Margaret Bliss converted with 13:48 left, J-D led for the first time, 8-7.
It lasted less than two minutes. Marsell tied it, 8-8, and by continuing to win draws as she had all night, allowed IR to stay patient with the ball.
With exactly thee minutes left, Marsell’s fifth goal gave the Warriors the lead. J-D made another defensive stop and, in the last minute, had two free-position chances to tie it, only to have IR defend them and ultimately run out the clock.
All of this followed a memorable semifinal last Thursday against Fulton at Chittenango High School. Trailing by seven goals, the Rams made it all the way back and, after a back-and-forth duel, emerged with a memorable 15-14 victory.
High emotions surrounded this game, J-D trying to avenge its sectional finals defeat from 2022, Fulton hoping to fully honor the memory of a teammate, Rylee Bartlett, who lost her life in a car accident earlier this season.
And it was Fulton getting the jump, leading by seven at one point in the first half before J-D’s attack caught fire and, with a scoring burst of its own, moved within one, 9-8, by halftime.
It would go back and forth in the second half with fewer extremes, but the Rams inched out in front led by Kessler’s six goals and two assists.
Three others – Durkin, Brooke Bort and Alexis Scaramuzzino – scored twice, with Bort and Durkin getting assists. Endries had a goal and two assists and Withers added a goal and assist. Fulton lost despite six goals from Mya Carroll and three goals and two assists from Carleigh Patterson.
