CAZENOVIA – Tradition and family are constant themes with the most successful high school sports programs, and Cazenovia field hockey exemplifies that fact.
Each fall, the Lakers’ Senior Day festivities are particularly special. Not only do the players get honored with their parents before a home game, there’s plenty to do once the game is over.
A potluck dinner is held inside Burton Street Elementary School, and during it the younger players on the roster give speeches about the seniors and what they’ve meant. Then honorary blankets are given to each of them.
This time, a lot of blankets were made, since 13 seniors are on the team were honored before, during and after last Wednesday afternoon’s 7-0 victory over Cortland.
Jordan Bradley, Abryenne Duerr, Bella Fazio, Olivia Franks, Maya Gilmore, Lucy Hagan, Margaret Hufttalen, Grace Kingsley, Reid McMurtrie, Meghan Mehlbaum, Maddy Rothfeld, Zosia Synborski and Mimi Uzcatague all enjoyed the accolades, along with a dominant performance.
Scoring in each quarter, the Lakers led 3-0 after one period and hardly let up from there, and McMurtrie, in particular, stood out, pouring in a career-best five goals.
Mehlbaum finished with a pair of assists as Gilmore and Hayden Bubble also got goals and Cazenovia took a five-game win streak into its non-league showdown with visiting Baldwinsville 24 hours later.
Again, it was a day to honor people, in this case the first Teacher Appreciation Day that allowed Lakers players to honor their favorite mentors from the classroom.
Better yet, they gave the teachers, and fans, another reason to cheer with a superb defensive effort most of the way that resulted in a 1-0 win over the Bees.
Kingsley, who just happened to be celebrating her birthday, made the day more memorable by taking a pass from Fazio and putting it past B’ville goalie Chloe Butler in the first quarter.
Though the Lakers didn’t score again, it maintained that slim margin thanks to a back line that followed the Bees’ forwards everywhere and broke up most of what got to them.
Four seniors – Duerr, Fazio, Franks and Uzcatague – worked together well on a back line missing both Hagan and Synborski. All told, B’ville had just two direct shots at Rothfeld.
Now with a six-game win streak, Cazenovia travels next Tuesday to Camden and then, next Friday, meets Port Byron/Union Springs in what could be the first contest on the new Upper Turf field on the Cazenovia High School campus.
