See more photos by Chris Cecere here
By TIM IRVING
The Pittsford-Canandaigua girls lacrosse game Tuesday night at Sutherland featured several subplots, pick your favorite:
Both teams entered the game unbeaten.
Both teams won the most recent sectional titles; Pittsford in Class A and Canandaigua in Class B in 2019.
Braves’ head coach Ronnie Davis lived in the Pittsford School District until last year and his daughter, McKenna, earned a scholarship to Boston College playing for the Panthers until transferring to Canandaigua this season.
Add weather changes from rain, to sun, to hail, to a biting wind and it all added up to a 9-7 Pittsford victory.
The Braves ran out to a 3-0 lead, two of those goals coming from Liv Schorr, sparked by three straight draw wins from junior Abbey Herod, also a Boston College commit, in fact, Herod won 14 of 17 in the game.
“She’s one of the best if not the best in the area and with the offensive weapons that they have, we were concerned to say the least,” Panthers coach Donovan Lopez remarked.
But then the switch flipped. Pittsford’s defense tightened up, causing transition opportunities and the Panthers out-scored Canandaigua 5-1 the rest of the half and led 5-4 at the half.
Pittsford kept the roll going in the second half, Jessica Robinson hitting Paige Glantz cutting to the goal.
With 11 minutes left, Robinson scored her second free position goal of the game to keep the roll going.
The defense kept it going, sparked by defensive middie Grace O’Hara. The Pittsford Mendon soccer star is heading to Bucknell and is playing lacrosse this season for the first time since her freshman year.
“It’s like she never stopped playing. She’s phenomenal, she can handle the ball and she can run and she can play defense, “ says Lopez.
O’Hara, who made a habit of sprinting through opposing defenses on the soccer pitch, flew up the field with a turnover and set up Dylan Madigan for an 8-4 lead.
The Braves turned that around as Herod tipped in a pass in front and then fired another goal in from out top to cut the lead to 8-6. Then Schorr cut the lead to one with three minutes left.
But on the ensuing faceoff, Ella Wilmot netted her second of the game and then almost single-handedly ran out the clock on the final two minutes.
A rough part of the schedule for Canandaigua, facing three unbeaten teams this week. After topping Victor by one goal, the Braves face unbeaten Rush-Henrietta Thursday. Pittsford’s (6-0) relatively young team, meanwhile, gains a world of confidence.
“It tells our kids we can play with anybody, if we play our game. If we don’t play our game, it’s that 3-0 score you saw,” said Lopez, whose Panthers have Irondequoit up next Thursday.
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