CENTRAL NEW YORK – Area high school girls lacrosse remains a strong point especially in the wake of Skaneateles securing another state Class D championship in 2023 and West Genesee also claiming Section III and regional titles.

Though it lost several key players from last year’s 20-1 squad that won it all, the Lakers still sent a strong opening statement last Saturday when it rolled past Section II’s Shaker 13-5 at Hyatt Stadium.

By herself, Grace Marquardt outscored the Blue Bison, netting six goals. Paige Willard earned three assists as she and Tatum Ryan both scored twice. Camryn Calabro got a goal and two assists as Anasofia Cirincione and Kiki Morrissey also netted goals.

Not far behind the Lakers is Marcellus, who despite a short turnaround from other sports made a strong season debut last Tuesday as it rolled past Whitesboro 19-6.

This was a game where the Mustangs took its time producing goals, working toward a 9-2 halftime lead and then going further led by the duo of Claire Card and Cece Powell.

Card piled up seven goals, while Powell notched four assists to go with her five tallies. Sophia Pilon scored twice as Leah Wood, Avery Shute, Lauren Weidner and Adelle Aupperle each got one goal and one assist. Mary Kennedy added a goal and Harper Camp claimed an assist.

Marcellus then faced Fayetteville-Manlius on Thursday night and nearly equaled its Whitesboro total, yet still could not quite overcome a big late-game deficit in a 20-18 loss.

Early in the second half, the Mustangs trailed 19-10, but it scored twice late in the third quarter and dominated the final period, too, led by Powell, whose seven goals gave her 12 for the week.

Card and Shute both were tough to contain, too, netting four goals apiece. Pilon again had two goals, while F-M saw Taylor Novack led her side with seven goals, helped by Juliana Cogliandro’s four goals and three assists and three-goal hat tricks from Kathryn McNany and Addison Keyes.

Jordan-Elbridge, 4-13 a season ago, got off to an exciting start against Cortland last Tuesday night, settling down on defense in the latter stages to defeat the Purple Tigers 14-12.

They went through a 10-10 first half, the Eagles seeing Aubree Larkin (five goals, two assists) and Valerosa Gambitta (four goals) carry Cortland’s attack and match whatever J-E was producing.

All of this changed in the second half, the Eagles slowing the game down and converting enough to go in front for good led by Makayla Penird’s four goals and one assist.

Kelsey Brunelle and Briella Gilfus both scored three times, with Stella Opanhoske adding two goals. Charlotte Hsiao and Marcelline Titus had the other goals.

More impressive for J-E was its 14-4 win over Mexico Thursday night, the Eagles soaring to an 8-2 advantage by halftime and, again, seeing its production spread around.

Hsiao scored four times, with Brunelle earning three goals and three assists and Penird adding three goals. Ophanhoske again had a two-goal outing, with Gilfus earning a goal and two assists. Evelyn Bennett had the other goal.

Westhill faced two Class A opponents in the opening week of the season and split those games, falling 14-7 to Cicero-North Syracuse, but bouncing back on Saturday to prevail 11-9 over Liverpool.

Kara Rosenberger carried Westhill’s attack against Liverpool, scoring six times to add to the three-goal hat trick she got against C-NS. Help came from Sophia Lasher and Rosie Mahoney, with two goals apiece, as Avery Starowicz added a goal and Taylor Falcone recorded five saves.