CENTRAL NEW YORK – Tough competition in the last week of the regular season was what greeted the Cazenovia and Chittenango girls lacrosse teams right before they went into the Section III playoffs.
Up against a vastly improved Homer squad last Tuesday night, the Lakers were close for a while, but saw its defense wear down late in a 19-10 defeat to the Trojans, the team’s fifth consecutive loss.
Charlie Prior got most of her five goals in the first half, Cazenovia only trailing 10-7 at the break. Homer kept attacking, though, and overcame Eliza Smith’s 11 saves led by a seven-goal effort from Maria Partis that included three assists.
Aside from Prior, Hayden Bubble was the only Cazenovia player to score twice. Maddie DeAngelis notched a pair of assists, while Sally Hughes, Ella Gale and Wynslet Skidmore added goals and Maeve Kelly picked up an assist.
No one was tougher than Skaneateles, though, something the Bears discovered again when it lost to that other group of Lakers 16-6 last Tuesday night.
Down 7-1 at halftime, the Bears did find some success on offense in the second half led by Persephone Rohrer, who scored twice. Caitlyn Sgambellone and Reese Ferstler each had one goal and one assist and Claudio Blanco Sanchez also found the net.
Still, Sknaeateles pulled away led by Camryn Calabro, who had five goals, and Tatum Ryan, who scored three times as Paige Willard piled up five assists to go with her pair of goals
Again the Bears had back-to-back games, meeting General Brown 24 hours after facing Skaneateles and taking a 14-7 defeat to the Lions, who got away after only building a 6-4 halftime advantage.
Tomi Newkirk landeed three goals, helped by two goals from Anna Lazzaro and one each from Rohrer and Sgambellone. Abby Penfield made 11 saves, GB led by Cameryn Case’s four goals and three-goal hat tricks from Alivia Cross and Mollie Peckham.
While Chittenango, with its no. 9 seed in the sectional Class B bracket, would travel Monday to Whitesboro to see who would face top seed Indian River in the quarterfinals a day later, Cazenovia was at home, a no. 8 seed in Class D meeting no. 9 seed Vernon-Verona-Sherrill with the goal its own trip north for a quarterfinal with a no. 1 seed, in this case South Jefferson.
