High school lacrosse: Canton girls lacrosse team's run ends in loss to Cold Spring Harbor in state final
Yet competing in the school's first state final in the sport, the Golden Bears simply met their match in perennial power Cold Spring Harbor of Section 8.
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Ryan Reynolds scored five goals and assisted on two others and Ruby Spielberger supplied four goals to spark the Seahawks to a 19-6 victory in the Class D title game on Saturday morning at SUNY Cortland.
With the win, Cold Spring Harbor claimed its second consecutive state championship.
Canton, also the first team from Section 10 to reach a final four in girls lacrosse, finishes its season at 17-2.
"We did as much as we could and fought and left it all on the field," Canton co-captain Sage Blevins said. "That's all we can ask for."
Cold Spring Harbor (17-3) seized the initiative from the start and quickly took control.
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"It was tough," Blevins said of the Seahawks' defensive pressure. "You've just got to work around it and move it (the ball) to the open people."
After Cold Spring Harbor jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a goal each from Spielberger and Olivia Maluda within the first two minutes of the game, Blevins scored to draw Canton within a goal.
Following an unassisted goal by Maluda for the Seahawks, Elena Abplanalp scored a goal, with Olivia Francey assisting, to draw the Golden Bears within 3-2.
But Cold Spring Harbor would respond by generating a five-goal surge to close the opening quarter on two goals from Kelly Callaghan and single tallies from Spielberger, Sienna Koke and Maggie Spehr to build an 8-2 advantage.
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Reynolds opened the second quarter by scoring 46 seconds in and after Blevins scored a goal 37 seconds later, with Vivian Coburn assisting, Reynolds struck again in just 10 seconds by winning the faceoff and scoring an unassisted goal to restore a six-goal lead at 9-3.
Canton would close within eight goals at 12-4 later in the quarter, but would get no closer and Cold Spring Harbor would go on to build a 14-4 advantage through the first half.
"It was hard-fought game, we knew they were going to be good," Canton coach Murphy Liggio said of Cold Spring Harbor. "We set a couple team goals that we kept to ourselves, we just went in thinking that and we said 'have fun today.' We never made it this far before and we're excited to be here and we wanted to be competitive, but we wanted the girls to have fun, too. So I'm proud of what they did."
Reynolds, who also dominated on the faceoff circle, would produce two more goals in the third quarter to forge a 16-6 lead, with Mamie Coburn and Olivia Francey each scoring a goal for Canton.
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Overall, Reynolds won 21 of 28 draw controls on the day to set the tone for Cold Spring Harbor.
"It definitely unfolded the way we wanted it to," Reynolds said of the game. "Again, winning this (title) again is not something I could have even dreamed about at the start of training camp."
Maluda scored two goals and assisted on five others for the Seahawks and Spehr and Callaghan contributed three goals each.
Blevins finished with two goals and an assist for the Golden Bears, while Francey scored a goal and assisted on two others.
Canton, which won the Northern Athletic Conference's Central Division title, went on to repeat as Section 10 champion by besting Malone.
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After opening its state playoff run with a 14-1 win over Section 7's Plattsburgh in the first round, the Golden Bears defeated Albany Academy for Girls, 16-3, in a state quarterfinal.
Canton advanced to the final by downing Section 4 champion Waverly, 15-8, on Friday.
"Absolutely, it was a huge breakthrough season for us, our seniors led the way," Liggio said. "We've had them for four or five years, so we've just been chipping away every year and we've been lucky to bring that same group back and just keep making progress.
"And this year we started and you don't know what you're going to have going into the season. But we went with it, we came out strong at the beginning of the season and we just kind of kept rolling and they kept the momentum going."
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The 17 wins is also the most recorded in Canton program history.
"Yes, very special to me, I'll never forget it," Blevins said of the season.
Blevins, one of eight seniors on the team, attends Heuvelton, but decided to play lacrosse at Canton this season.
"It was great," Blevins said. "For my first time being on this team it was such an awesome experience and everybody on the team is just so amazing. It was just awesome."
Liggio hopes the experience of making a memorable run through the state playoffs to reach the state final four will resonate and prove valuable not only for the team, but for the program as well.
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"Huge, those girls are going to be hard to replace," Liggio said. "They're eight very strong leaders, you know we look to some more than others, but they all have a very special spot on our team and they lead in different ways, whether it be on the field or off the field. Whether on defense or attack, they're strong personalities and they just mesh well together, and they're really good at including the younger girls, which is huge."
"They show the younger girls what to strive for and that's huge for us, too. So hopefully they've paved that way and showed the younger girls what to do and we can capitalize on it."
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