ONONDAGA COUNTY – Few other area girls lacrosse teams could approach the level of work Fayetteville-Manlius has already done in 2025.
By the time the Hornets faced rival West Genesee Tuesday night it will have played 10 games, and the only reason it wasn’t more was because last Saturday’s game with Section V’s Pittsford was postponed.
Steeled by all of this work, F-M challenged reigning state Class A champion Cicero-North Syracuse last Thursday night and nearly pulled off its biggest victory in years before the Northstars held on and prevailed 10-9.
This was the same C-NS side who had bashed West Genesee 16-3 two nights earlier. Here, though, the Hornets got 11 saves in goal from Micaela Jennings and three-goal hat tricks from Taylor Novack and Addison Keyes as Jane Ryan added a goal and two assists. Mallory Burns and Helen Dougherty also found the net.
To pull it out, C-NS needed three goals apiece from Sophia Nesci and Elizabeth Smith, plus two goals from Miabella Gates and single tallies from Gabby Putman and Sophia Graham. Nesci tacked on two assits.
Having lost 14-11 to St. John’s Prep in the first of two games on that southern trip F-M won the second game 20-10 over Holton Arms, from Bethesda, Maryland.
Novack got to double digits in points with seven goals and three assists. Ryan scored five times, with Keyes and Burns notching three goals apiece. Dougherty added two goals and three assists.
Then it was a gauntlet of three league rivals in four nights which began last Monday against Baldwinsville, a team which one just one game a season ago but has shown vast improvement this spring.
Just how much better was something F-M found out up close in a 12-11 defeat to the Bees as the visitors attacked plenty, requiring Micaela Jennings to make 13 saves to give her team a chance.
It nearly worked, too, with Novack getting a game-high four goals and Ryan scoring three times as Dougherty got two goals and one assist. Keyes and Burns added goals.
But B’ville had more depth and balance, for though Peyton Dyl’s three goals led her side, four others – Jaya Madigan, Lea Otts, Raegan Ratliff and Gisella Trousdale – earned two goals apiece, with Madigan and Otts each earning a pair of assists.
Liverpool followed just 24 hours later at LHS Stadium and the Hornets, determined to get back into winning form, jumped all ove the Warriors and didn’t let up until it had recorded a 15-5 victory.
Burns, scoring four times, led F-M, with Dougherty, Novack and Keyes each netting three goals and Novack tacking on a pair of assists. Jane Ryan and Camille Ryan matched each other with one goal and one assist.