For the third season in a row, the Spencerport girls lacrosse team made it all the way to the Section V Class B championship game. And now for the second consecutive year, their season came to an end in overtime of that title tilt.
The top-seeded Rangers gave up an early 2-0 lead, but made a furious comeback from four goals down over the final 5:21 of regulation only to lose to second-seed Canandaigua 9-8.
Senior middie and University of Massachusetts-Lowell commit Natalie Choate staked the Rangers to a 2-0 lead as she converted a free-possession just 69 seconds into the contest and charged the net for an unassisted tally at 5:23.
But Canandaigua roared back with five unanswered goals to take a 5-2 lead.
Spencerport got some momentum back just prior to the halftime horn as senior Erin Coykendall fed a long pass downfield for Choate, who raced toward the net with the clock ticking down and scored a controversial goal as the horn sounded to pull the Rangers to within 5-3.
Choate netted her fourth goal of the game with another free-possession conversion just 1:40 into the second half, but the Braves cored three straight to lead 8-4.
That’s when the Rangers offense and defense kicked it into high gear. Senior and Duquesne-bound Camryn Sack began the rally with a pump-fake free possession goal at 19:39 and, 93 seconds later took a pass from Choate, sidestepped a defender and scored to cut the four-goal deficit in half.
With less than one-minute remaining in regulation, Coykendall scored following a Rangers timeout to make it 8-7 Braves with 43 seconds left. After a clutch save by Rangers goalie Julia Britton, Coykendall then won the draw and took a sweet pass from Choate at the side of the net and scored the tying goal with just seconds left in regulation.
In the first overtime, Canandaigua was thwarted on their first possession and the Rangers held the ball in the offensive zone for almost two full minutes before turning it over with 30 seconds left. The Braves raced down the field and netted the game-winner with 9.9 seconds on the clock to end Spencerport’s bid for their first girls lacrosse Section V title.
“This team’s work ethic was unbelievable all year and I was impressed that day-in and day-out they never stopped working and it showed today,” Spencerport head coach Tricia Condon said.
“We were battle-tested since the beginning of the season and we enjoy being in big games.
“I started with this group and this would have been a great ending, but wins and losses are forgotten and it’s the relationships that matter and no one can take that away.”
Spencerport’s Coykendall, Sack, Choate, senior and Cornell recruit Olivia Wall, sophomore Lily DiPalma and junior Cat Wall were named to the All-Tournament team.
