Sweet Home girls lacrosse wins one-goal games
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

With three one-goal victories in the last two weeks, it's fair to say Sweet Home girls lacrosse likes to win dramatically.

The Lady Panthers defeated Iroquois at home, 7-6, on Friday, May 4, at West Seneca East, 13-12, on Wednesday, May 9, and home against West Seneca West, 7-6, on Friday, May 11.

"It seems like we try to keep it interesting," joked Sweet Home coach Katie Tutak.

The Iroquois win came after losses earlier in the week to Hamburg, 11-7, on Wednesday, May 2, and Williamsville North, 7-5, on Thursday, May 3.

Tutak said her team played with more confidence against Iroquois.

"There's a lot of talent on this team," said Tutak. "Sometimes we don't play with as much confidence as we should. When we do, we play much more aggressive and it showed against Iroquois."

Three goals from Caitlin Colkitt, two goals from Laura Nerber and single tallies from Marisa Kelly and Jessica Louttit provided the offense for Sweet Home against Iroquois. Colkitt leads Sweet Home with 26 goals.

Sweet Home also played with confidence against West Seneca East, leading 7-5 at halftime.

Six Lady Panthers scored at least two goals. Colkitt registered a hat trick and two assists. Kati Baird, Kelly, Louttit, Nerber, and Rochelle Ricchiazzi each scored twice. Kelly, Nerber, Ricchiazzi and Katie Mazuchowski each recorded an assist.

Goalie Danielle Holloway made 17 saves. Tutak said three of Holloway's saves were huge in the last five minutes.

Low defenders Brianne Galli and Sarah Heron each had at least four ground balls.

Nerber scored Sweet Home's game-winning goal against West Seneca West with two-and-a-half minutes remaining from Ricchiazzi.

"West Seneca West turned it over and Brianne Galli came up with the ground ball, made a transition pass to Lauren Korniczky, who passed to Rochelle," said Tutak. "Rochelle passed it to Laura and she scored. It was a fantastic series of plays."

Tutak said her team had a 5-2 halftime lead and didn't panic when West Seneca West made a second half run.

"We continued to play our game," said Tutak.

Nerber scored three times and Baird, Colkitt, Korniczky, and Louttit scored once. Leann Stiver, Ricchiazzi and Kelly each had one assist. Colkitt grabbed five ground balls. Holloway made 10 saves.

Sweet Home's close wins over the West Seneca schools came after one of the team's poorest performances of the season, a 10-6 home loss to Niagara-Wheatfield on Monday, May 7.

"Niagara-Wheatfield won more faceoffs and had more possession of the ball," said Tutak. "It's something we worked on the following day in practice and it worked well against West Seneca East."

Colkitt had two goals and an assist. Marijke VanLeeuwen scored a goal and assisted on another. Baird, Mazuchowski, and Ricchiazzi also scored for Sweet Home. Holloway made 15 saves.

Sweet Home (6-7) closed out the regular season with a game at Grand Island on Monday, May 14 but results were unavailable before The Bee went to press. Sectionals begin Thursday, May 17.

"Overall, I was expecting to have a better record but as far as performing on the field, we're where we have to be to win games," said Tutak. "We're finally putting all of the pieces together. This team has high expectations and is excited for the playoffs."

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com