Cortland Standard .net

MARCELLUS – Morgan Hollenbeck found the cage with 2:10 left in regulation time to give Homer Central girls their biggest win of the lacrosse season.
Hollenbeck’s third goal of the night snapped a 12-12 tie and gave the Trojans a hard-fought 13-12 OHSL Freedom National Division win over division leader Marcellus and avenged a 17-8 loss to the previously undefeated Mustangs back on April 2.
Homer improves to 3-1 in division play and 4-4 overall. Marcellus falls to 4-1 in the division, 6-2 overall.
“This was a great win for our girls and our program,” Homer coach Ed Porter said. “Marcellus is an incredibly experienced and talented team, but our girls really rose to the challenge this evening. I am especially pleased for this group of girls because we have had a pretty tough opening schedule and it might have been easy for them to get a little down.
“I have mentioned that we are a better team than our record indicated,” he continued. “I think the girls wanted to prove that tonight.”
Kim Dieroff (two assists) scored all three of her goals in the first half while Natali Partigianoni (one assist) netted her two goals during first half play. Hollenbeck (one assist), Olivia Porter and Delaney Root each found the back of the net once as the Trojans took an 8-6 halftime lead.
While the Mustangs did their best to keep things close, Porter (two assists) scored three times in the second half. Hollenbeck netted two second half goals, including the game winner for the Trojans.
Maddie Conklin led the Marcellus attack with four goals and two assists. Ally Burrows (two assists) and Audrey Cerrone netted three goals each while Keelin Kelly scored twice for the Mustangs.
“Once again we won as a team by spreading our scoring around and possessing the ball for large chunks of time,” Porter said. “We knew going in — because we have players injured or sick — that we would not be able to run up and down the field with Marcellus so we slowed our possessions down a bit. The girls worked the game plan very well.
We knew at half time that Marcellus was back on their heels a bit so we told the girls to gain possession and be patient on offense,” he continued. “Kim Dieroff was dominant on draw control (19-for-26) and caused match up problems for Marcellus all game long. Our middies worked the whole field and really played very well. Mollie Ferrito, Gillian McEvoy and Olivia Roos were able to slow down a very experienced Marcellus attack and cleared the ball without panic against a very aggressive ride.”
Porter also credited Nina Armideo, Partigianoni and Julia Brazo for possessing the ball very well. Katie Lawrence made eight saves in the Trojan goal. Sarah Annable stopped seven shots for the Mustangs.
Homer will return to Freedom National Division action Wednesday when the Trojans make the short drive to Cortland High. The Trojans and Purple Tigers squared off at 6:30 p.m. with the JVs meeting at 5 p.m.