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By TIM IRVING
Victor girls lacrosse coach Niki Frunzi gave her team a reading assignment after a team-bonding practice on Tuesday.
“In our pre-game talk, everyone came with a quote from Jon Gordon’s “Row the Boat,” extra focused during our warm-up and I was excited for this game for them.”
The Blue Devils stormed out to a 12-4 halftime lead and then held on for a 16-11 victory over Rush-Henrietta.
The Royal Comets become just the second team this season to scored double-digits on Victor. The other, Darien of Connecticut, the second ranked girls lacrosse team in the Nation.
The Blue Devils, ranked fourth in the most recent USA Lacrosse Magazine rankings, scored the first seven goals of the game.
Two goals coming from senior Caitlin Keenan.
And two more from Duke commit Eva Pronti to go with two assists.
It was just the start for Pronti, inspired by the team’s commitment to each other.
“We’ve just been talking about our future plans and just being together and being a team. It’s a special feeling to come out on this field and being a senior, coming down to the wire, I just wanna leave it on the field every time,” Pronti said.
By halftime, Pronti had four goals and three assists.
Keenan and Maddie Mabbett had five goals between them and the lead was 12-4 at the break.
Early in the second half, Pronti ripped home an eight-meter goal for her fifth goal.
She then set up Mabbett for her fourth goal.
Pronti then reached ten points with her sixth goal for a 15-5 advantage on an R-H defense, anchored by goalie Angelia Oeschle, that averaged less than eight goals allowed coming in.
“We kinda took away all our offenses and said, just have fun and play lacrosse and a little less structure works for her (Pronti), “ Frunzi said.
Junior Lexi Jones scored off of one of 11 draw controls by Devin Livingston for a 16-6 advantage.
That’s when the Royal Comets, for the second straight game, made a run late in the game. Coming off a 5-0 run to end a 13-12 victory over Canandaigua Monday, R-H went on a 5-0 run behind the Garretts, Ally and Danielle, the Roberts, Avery and Ashlyn and Lena Cox to get to 16-11 before Livingston won the final draw to run off the 45 seconds of the game.
There is pressure being as highly ranked as Victor is.
“You can be on the right train track and still get run over so we know we have to work hard every day,” Frunzi said.
Pronti and her teammates want to live in the moment.
“That ranking is out there but we wanna win Sectionals, that’s really our biggest goal, and States. The ranking’s important but Sectionals is where our heads’ at right now.”
The Blue Devils host Baldwinsville, the Bees have just one loss, to Pittsford.
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