Lakeland High School Field Hockey began its defense of the New York State Class B championship Saturday morning with a overwhelming 4-1 win against Vestal High School. The game was played under a rare upstate November day with sunny skies and temperatures in the low 60s Saturday morning for their 9:30 AM start.
Lakeland will meet Brighton HS (Rochester area) Sunday at 10 am for the NY State championship at Cicero-North Syracuse HS field.
Lakeland dominated with 12 shots on goal and 14 corners while Vestal was limited to one shot on goal and only two corners. A tight opening few minutes featured the usual excellent defensive effort by the Hornets while the offense missed a couple of scoring opportunities before at 8:09 of the first half. The half ended with Lakeland ahead 1-0.
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Lakeland didn't waste time in the second half when Brianna Muniz scored at 26:20. Molly Fitzgerald made it 3-0 off an assist by Gab Celentano at 21:33. After Vestal's Tori Jo Kakusian blistered a goal off a corner 19:34 to cut the lead to -1. Lakeland's Steph Scala sealed the victory with a goal at 3:24.
Lakeland High School is seeking its fifth straight year after defeating Long Island's Garden City HS 3-0 Last Saturday. It was the third time in four years, Lakeland has defeated Garden City in the state playoffs, the last two times 2010, 2011) were in the state championship. Lakeland will play Vestal High School (Binghampton area) Saturday, November 16 at 9:30 am at Cicero/North Syracuse has in the state semifinals.
