CENTRAL NEW YORK – Only at the last hurdle did the Skaneateles girls ice hockey team’s hopes for a perfect season get dashed – and on the very same ice by the very same side who got in the way 12 months ago.
The Lakers fell 3-1 to Adirondack United in Saturday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association regional final at the Nexus Center in Utica, halting a 16-game win streak which dated back to November.
Back in 2024 these teams met in the Nexus Center in the state regional semifinals. Adirondack won that game, too, a 6-1 decision which had fueled and motivated Skaneateles throughout the ensuing year to get the ending right in 2025.
Part of that run of 16 wins in a row was a game with Adriondack Jan. 24 at Allyn Arena which the Lakers won by the same 3-1 margin led by Genevieve Smart, who scored once in each period for a hat trick, and Brooke Coffey stopping 22 of 23 shots.
Now, in the title game, Skaneateles would move out in front when Cora Major converted late in the first period – the only goal the Lakers would produce, as it turned out.
Solid on defense for most of the game, Skaneateles kept it 1-0 through the rest of the opening period and for a large portion of the second and third periods, too.
It was just a single 55-second stretch late in the second which will haunt the Lakers into the off-season.
Aubrey Rozier struck a hard shot past Coffey and Adirondack tied it. Before Skaneateles could regroup, another attack materialized and Kady Duffy converted, putting Adirondack in front.
There it stayed through a tense third period until the Lakers, piling on the pressure, pulled Coffey (who again finished with 22 saves) for an extra attacker. Adirondack’s Gianna Marcantonio found the empty net in the closing seconds.
Prior to the final, each of the Lakers’ two previous state regional playoff games were comfortable victories.
Back on Wednesday, less than 24 hours removed from winning the sectional final against Clinton, the Lakers were back at Allyn Arena facing Ithaca and putting away the Little Red 7-1.
Skaneateles took 19 shots to Ithaca’s three in the opening period and converted four times, more than it would need.
Only Grace Marquardt scored twice, adding an assist. Major, Geneveieve Smart, Kendra Garlock, Liz Schneid and Makayla Barron all picked up goals, with Major adding two assists. Lily Kennedy and Layla Smart tacked on assists.
Then it was on to the state “Frozen Four” in Utica, where in Friday’s semifinals Skaneateles faced Section VI’s Frontier/Lakeshore/Orchard Park and won by that familiar 3-1 margin.
Now it was Layla Smart’s turn to shine. The freshman earned the go-ahead goal in the first period and converted again in the second, with an insurance goal tacked on by Barron.
Major, Schneid, Marquardt and Genevieve Smart joined Barron earning single assists and Coffey was quite good, turning back 24 of F/L/OP’s 25 shots and earning for her side that berth in the state final – where a familiar opponent and familiar ending awaited.
