Amherst's Simon, Battaglia hit lacrosse milestones

Two personal milestones were achieved during the Amherst Central girls lacrosse team's final week of regular-season games.

In the Lady Tigers' 16-1 home win over Mount St. Mary's on Monday, May 14, junior Amy Simon scored her 100th career goal with 9:44 remaining in the first half off a feed from Abbie Gowen. Two days later, Jodi Battaglia recorded her 200th career goal five minutes into the first half of Amherst's 16-3 home win over Clarence. Ali Medinic assisted on Battaglia's goal.

Amherst coach Janet Battaglia said her team played strong against Mount St. Mary's and Clarence with crisp passing and solid defense.

Seven different Amherst players scored versus Mount St. Mary's. Gowen took top point honors with two goals and five assists. Brianne Burton and Alexis Scime each scored twice. Kayla Brand added an assist. Other scorers included Jodi Battaglia (four goals, two assists), Simon (three goals), Daisy Timlin (two goals) and Lily Timlin (goal). Ellie Poleon had a first-half shutout. Erin Edson turned back all but one shot.

The Clarence game was Senior Night, and after a recognition ceremony, the nine seniors (Scime, Medinic, Danielle Pizzuto, Jodi Battaglia, Burton, Ellen Janicki, Brand, Sara Heidinger and Christine Domres) and two underclassmen took the field and played an amazing first half of lacrosse, coach Battaglia felt.

Midfield strength controlling the draw and patient crisp attack allowed for the Tigers to get on the scoreboard quickly and repeatedly. The play was for the most part dominated by Amherst early on. Clarence did have some great transition passing and made two or three early runs to the goal only to be turned back by the low defense, led by Brand, Heidinger and Domres, and goalkeeper Poleon.

Amherst led 14-1 at halftime.

Gowen had 12 points (six goals, six assists). Jodi Battaglia and Simon each scored four goals and had an assist. Burton and Lily Timlin each scored a goal. Medinic (three assists), Daisy Timlin and Pizzuto (assist each) also contributed on offense.

Poleon and Edson split time in net, combining for seven saves.

"This was a great effort and a prideful game for our seniors," said coach Battaglia. "Their work was rewarded in the game and with kind words from their teammates following the game."

Sandwiched in between the Mount St. Mary's and Clarence games was a sloppy 16-11 win at Nichols on Tuesday, May 15.

Struggling connecting passes, finishing shots, and stopping some Nichols' attackers going one-on-one to the goal found Amherst trading goals with Nichols for the first 15 minutes.

Nichols scored at the 6:07 mark to lead 4-3. A needed Amherst timeout to settle the ragged play was taken, which led to five Lady Tiger goals in the last four minutes of the first half, sparked by two back-to-back goals from Daisy Timlin. Gowen assisted on both.

"Daisy and Abbie connected for goals one minute apart, which gave us the jump to turning this game around and a critical time just before the half," said coach Battaglia.

The spark gave Amherst the jump start. Simon found the back of the net 20 seconds later, and Jodi Battaglia's two goals closed out the first-half scoring. Gowen and Simon assisted.

Renewed and leading 8-5 at halftime, the Lady Tigers took the field in the second half and played a much more controlled, composed game. Crisp passing and better defense set the tone for our team in the second half.

"We were able to stop the one-on-one attackers by moving our feet and playing better team low defense," said coach Battaglia.

In the second half, Amherst got three big goals from Daisy Timlin, Simon and Gowen within the first eight minutes of play to make it 11-5.

Nichols would score again at the 14:17 mark to make it 11-6, only to be answered by four more Lady Tiger tallies in four minutes (Daisy Timlin, Lily Timlin, Simon and Jodi Battaglia) helping the Tigers to take a 15-6 lead.

Nichols did not let up but rallied to score five more goals in the last seven minutes of play.

"We did not start or finish in the manner that we would like to have played this game," said coach Battaglia. "We played hard and skillfully for 25 minutes in the middle of the game to take a strong lead. It worked out that we got the win; however, we cannot count on being able to give half a game's effort and get a win from now on."

Gowen led Amherst with three goals and 10 assists. Daisy Timlin and Simon each scored four times and added an assist. Jodi Battaglia tallied four goals.

Lily Timlin scored a goal. Scime assisted on another goal.

The low defense of Meagan Hurley, Elana Korn and Domres combined for six ground balls.

Amherst extended their record to 15-3, losing only to Honoeye Falls-Lima (Section V) and Liverpool (Section III).

Amherst will play East Aurora in the Section VI Class C finals at Amherst on Thursday, May 31. The time is yet to be determined.

Gowen finished the regular season with 58 goals, 89 assists and a 78 percent shooting percentage. Jodi Battaglia is at 54 goals, 19 assists and a 75 percent shooting percentage. Daisy Timlin has 39 goals, 14 assists and a 72 percent shooting percentage.

Domres (37) and Hurley (35) lead the team in ground balls. Jodi Battaglia leads in draw controls (56) and caused turnovers (34) with Korn a close second in caused turnovers (32). Hurley also sang the National Anthem before the Clarence game.