Girls lacrosse
Lady Tigers put forth great effort, lose Far West Regional
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

at Amherst High School. Amherst lost 9-8 to East Rochester in the Class C Far West Regional on Saturday, June 2. Photo by Joe Eberle Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

Since Amherst gained a girls lacrosse program 13 years ago, they've been the standard for Section VI excellence in the sport.

The Lady Tigers have won nine Section VI titles and earned championships the last three, including a dominating 18-5 rout over East Aurora for the Class C title last Thursday at Amherst. While the section titles are nice, the team wanted to accomplish what no other Section VI girls lacrosse team had been able to do - defeat a Rochester team for the Far West Regional title. Unfortunately, Liz Tice and East Rochester had other ideas. Tice scored the game-winning goal on a free position with 5:59 remaining as the Lady Bombers edged the Lady Tigers, 9-8, on Saturday at Monroe Community College.

Amherst's loss was the closest any Section VI girls lacrosse team had come to winning a Far West Regional. Including the East Rochester loss, Amherst is 0-7 lifetime in regional games.

The regional game began with East Rochester controlling the first draw, but a caused turnover in Amherst's defensive end gave the Lady Tigers possession.

Amherst quickly transitioned the ball downfield and scored 35 seconds into the game. Jodi Battaglia beat East Rochester's goalie low to the stick side on a feed from Abbie Gowen. Two minutes later, a second Battaglia goal was called back because of a crease violation.

East Rochester tied the game at 20:58, but Amherst answered back off the next draw, scoring 20 seconds later when Gowen assisted Jodi Battaglia.

The Lady Bombers then went on a three-goal scoring spree, the last goal recorded by Taryn Schawillie to go up 4-2 with 11:37 remaining. The two-goal deficit was the biggest lead of the game for either team.

Amherst responded again with two goals three minutes apart by Amy Simon to tie the game at 4-4 at 8:09 and took a 5-4 lead when Simon assisted Jodi Battaglia.

After each team traded goals (East Rochester's Ashley Moulton, Amherst's Gowen), East Rochester's Samantha Cavallaro found the back of the net with 1.2 seconds left.

"That was a bit of a blow to us but nonetheless, we knew we had played a strong first half," said Amherst coach Janet Battaglia.

Amherst took a lead four minutes into the second half when Jodi Battaglia found Daisy Timlin, but East Rochester answered a minute later on a mishandled goalkeeper save.

Gowen, from Daisy Timlin, put Amherst in the lead, 8-7, but again East Rochester had an answer.

With the teams tied at 8-8 at 11:15, coach Battaglia said both teams showed incredible defense and kept the game scoreless for the next five minutes, despite two attempts by Daisy Timlin and Gowen, who got open for the shot and finished into the goalie's stick.

Late in the game, coach Battaglia said her team interrupted the East Rochester stall twice, one time resulting in an Amherst turnover and the next on an Ellen Janicki-caused turnover, which transitioned up to an open Simon who raced downfield with 13 seconds left, fired a shot that deflected off the goalie's foot, hit the crossbar and bounced out.

"The transition players did a great job of moving the ball quickly and efficiently downfield, taking much better care of the ball in the second half," said coach Battaglia. "The team played disciplined and fundamentally strong on the attacking end of the field."

"Our scorers played the game we needed from them for the most part, shooting 60 percent on the day," coach Battaglia continued. "We created our own adversity with some of our own errors. It was definitely the best performance of our season. The heat and speed of the game put us to the test. Although we did not win, the effort was a very prideful one and sets up a huge goal for next year's team."

Amherst assistant coach Kristy Grossman lauded the defensive work of Meaghan Hurley, Christine Domres and Elana Korn.

"The defensive unit worked together to force low-angle shots with a disciplined deny defense," said Grossman. "Together they combined for three draw controls, nine ground balls and four caused turnovers."

"Brianne Burton was strong in the midfield and on defense," she continued. "Senior Ellen Janicki was put into the game at halftime and did an excellent job of denying East Rochester's first-half leading scorer, Sammie Cavallero, who did not score the entire second half. Ellie Poleon came up big with some clutch saves early on, totaling 10."

Amherst used a blitzkrieg of offense to dismantle East Aurora. The Lady Tigers jumped out to an 11-0 halftime lead and scored the first goal of the second half (Gowen from Lily Timlin) to take a commanding 12-0 lead.

"We had a game plan and stuck to it," said coach Battaglia. "We moved the ball, used nice sharp crisp passes in the midfield and finished on attack."

Simon scored five of her six goals in the first half and was 6 for 6 shooting overall. Daisy Timlin and Gowen scored twice. Gowen had four assists in the first half. Burton (Lily Timlin) and Jodi Battaglia had single goals.

Grossman said low defenders Hurley, Domres and Korn helped hold East Aurora to two first-half shots. They had eight overall. Hurley finished the game with three caused turnovers and three ground balls. Domres caused two turnovers and scooped up a ground ball.

"We usually control the pace of the game, and they took control right from the start and we didn't know how to get it back," said East Aurora coach Christina Schutrum. "In the first half, we were turning the wrong way when they were turning the right way."

The closest East Aurora got was 13-4 on a goal by Kristy Bonanno at 14:25 of the second half. Back-to-back goals by Jodi Battaglia, assisted by Gowen, lifted Amherst's lead to 15-4 four minutes later.

Gowen scored Amherst's final goal with 1:35 remaining from Katie Erbacher. She finished the game with four goals, eight assists and four draw controls.

"I'm the feeder behind the net, so that's why I have a lot of assists," said Gowen.

"We've got her in a nice position that suits her well," said coach Battaglia. "Her strength is that she finds her teammates and knows when to go to goal. That's the game we hoped from Abbie."

Jodi Battaglia had three goals and two assists. Casey Martin and Annmarie Pera had single tallies. Lily Timlin had three assists.

Jessie Tarantino scored twice and Sarah Tarantino, Kristy Bonanno and Samantha Stanley each had a goal for East Aurora, which finishes 13-4.

Amherst finishes 16-4. The team loses nine seniors including Jodi Battaglia, Burton, Domres, Janicki, Danielle Pizzuto, Alexis Scime, Ali Medinic, Kayla Brand and Sara Heidinger.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com