By SPENCER BATES
TONAWANDA — The No. 1 seed Salamanca girls lacrosse team, in its second attempt in as many years to grab the Section 6 Class D crown, came up just short, falling 9-5 to No. 3 seed Eden/North Collins.
When the Warriors reached the Section 6 Class D Final last season, they narrowly fell to Gowanda 12-11. They were able to avenge that loss in the postseason this year, defeating the Panthers in the semifinals, handedly, 13-2.
Unfortunately for them, the momentum from their big win in the semis was swiped by the Raiders after just about one quarter of play in this year’s final. And in the ‘game of momentum’ that Salamanca coach Jesse Mohr stated that lacrosse is, wind in the sails means everything.
Leilene McComber was able to open the score for Salamanca less than two minutes into the game. She added two more consecutive goals to her tally in the second quarter, but as the game progressed, her goals were eventually nullified by a potent Eden/North Collins attack.
Still, Salamanca trailed by just a goal — the same deficit by which it fell to the Raiders when the sides faced off in the regular season — with halftime fast approaching. However, E/NC had no plans to simply coast into the intermission, scoring two pivotal goals in under two minutes to put Salamanca behind 6-3 at the break.
“(Those goals were) huge,” Mohr said. “It’s a momentum game, so us making some errors, some mental mistakes, it really just opened the door for them to take advantage. … We addressed it at half and I addressed it coming out of the half, but definitely kudos to (Eden/North Collins) for taking advantage of some of the mental mistakes we had.”
Salamanca’s Leilene McComber (5) is closely guarded by an Eden/North Collins defender. McComber scored all five of the Warriors’ goals in their 9-5 loss to the Raiders. (Salamanca Warrior Athletics)
According to Mohr, a big factor that led to the Warriors’ defensive wall crumbling was how much time they spent pinned back in their own zone. While the possessions Salamanca managed to score on were shorter and more direct, E/NC put together slower, much more methodical possessions that, when they resulted in a goal, provided a gut punch to the mentality of the Warriors.
“They were able to maintain control of the ball for a minute and a half, two minutes, sometimes even up to three minutes a couple of times, especially right at the end of the game,” Mohr said. “(We spent) a lot of time in the defensive zone, which means a lot of movement. Them controlling the ball did wear down our defense quickly, as you can see at the end of the first half where they scored. We were making mental mistakes because we were down there for quite some time.”
Playing into how much wear-and-tear the Salamanca defense was put under was the fact that E/NC had a number of weapons through which they could score. Five different players combined for the Raiders’ eventual nine goals in the contest.
“They made some great adjustments,” Mohr said. “Having to deal with four or five attackers that can score on you, (especially with) some of our more inexperienced (players) down there. They took advantage of that.”
Meanwhile, Salamanca’s entire offensive output was provided by McComber. With two more goals in the second half, she managed to record all five goals for the Warriors. And while those five goals were big, with little offense being produced from other sources, the E/NC defense focussed their efforts on McComber.
“(Leilene’s) definitely an athlete,” Mohr said. “She brings an intensity that is unmatched. She is, bar none, a top athlete on our team right this second and definitely something that defenses have to account for.”
Members of the Salamanca girls lacrosse team celebrate after scoring against Eden/North Collins. (Salamanca Warrior Athletics)
Scoring its final goal with under a minute on the clock, E/NC put the game on ice and collected its third Section 6 title in the last four years.
But as Mohr noted, this year was far from the final opportunity his team has at claiming Section 6 glory. With only a handful of seniors leaving the program, none of whom are named Leilene McComber, the future is set to be in good hands.
“Most of these girls will start in a couple of weeks at the club (level), and a lot of the young girls (that we have) are coming right up through our club program too, so the commitment is there, the mentality is there, that competitiveness is there,” Mohr said. “I’m very very excited to see how this progresses in the next couple years.”
