Though it was only mid-April the Jamesville-DeWitt girls lacrosse team may have already caught a glimpse of the strongest program outside of reigning state Class A champion Cicero-North Syracuse.
South Jefferson, a state Class D final four participant last spring, might be even stronger now, and managed to humble the Red Rams 14-3 when those two sides met last Tuesday night.
Ignoring rain, wind and a 45-minute delay to start the game, the Spartans broke out of an early 1-1 tie with three unanswered goals late in the first quarter as Brooke Perry led South Jefferson getting an early hat trick.
By halftime the margin was 7-2, and Perry hardly let up, finishing her night with seven goals to run her season total to 16 and lead a Spartans side which has outscored its five opponents a combined 101-18.
J-D entered the week flying off big wins over Fulton and Ithaca, the latter of them a 10-3 decision which showcased a defense anchored by goalie Pearson Eckrich stopping eight off 11 shots she faced.
Merris Kessler’s trio of goals anchored the attack. Sadie Withers and Ella Parker both converted twice, single goals going to Gabrielle Doumit, Lacey Phaneuf and Alexis Scaramuzzino. Lillian Wells got two assists and Maggie Bliss a single assist.
Making up for this on Thursday J-D handled its neighbors from East Syracuse Minoa in a lopsided 21-2 game where Kessler’s four goals and five assists led the way, but not by much.
Scaramuzzino set a career mark with six assists to go with her pair of goals. Kylee Gallagher notched four goals, with Withers and Wells also scoring twice. Parker, Lauren Mills, Juliana Walker and Nithya
Suryadevara added goals as the lone ESM tallies went to Jordis Aldrich and Lindsay Davis.
A big early-week battle saw Christian Brothers Academy challenge undefeated Westhill, and it proved quite a good game but the Brothers fell 14-11 to the Warriors.
Westhill jumped out 9-5 by halftime and essentially matched what the Brothers threw at them the rest of the way led largely by the duo of Kara Rosenberger and Melissa Mondo as Rosenberget poured in five goals and Mondo scored four times.
Maeve Mackenzie got four goals for CBA, with Ryann Murphy adding three goals. Lilah Kirch converted twice, the other goals going to Emery McCartney and Madison Ceclia. Maddie Evans, in goal, finished with eight saves.
Far from discouraged by this, the Brothers turned around a day later and smashed Cazenovia by a score of 17-4, sprinting out to an 11-1 halftime advantage and continuing to add to the margin even with a running clock.
Kirch led with five goals this time as Mackenzie again scored four times to run her early-season total to 29. Sloane Massa stepped up with three goals and one assist, McCartney and Murphy both getting two goals and McCartney adding a pair of assists. Caroline Wilson had one goal and one assist.
Fayetteville-Manlius functions best as a high-powered attack with the capacity to simply outscore opponents, which it did again Monday night in defeating Auburn 20-12.
Six different Hornets finished with multiple goals led by Taylor Novack, who scored five times and tacked on a pair of assists as Mallory Burns earned four goals.
Jane Ryan and Brooke Southwick each earned three-goal hat tricks. Helen Dougherty had two goals and two assists, with Camille Ryan also finding the net twice and Addison Keyes added a goal. Micaela Jennings was busy in goal, earning 11 saves.
In Thursday’s 14-11 defeat to St. John’s Prep (Maryland) Keyed led with three goals. Novack and Dougherty both had two goals and one assist, Jane Ryan also scoring twice and single goals going to Burns and Camille Ryan.
