Horseheads secured its first Section 4 title in girls lacrosse in four years after Ithaca made it four consecutive championships in a championship doubleheader Friday, May 29 at Horseheads High School.
The Little Red took the Class A final by an 18-9 margin over Corning.
Horseheads rolled to a 19-4 triumph against Vestal in the Class B contest.
Horseheads led by Sindlinger’s career night
CarLynn Sindlinger scored a career-best 8 goals to go with 3 assists as a senior-laden Blue Raiders team dominated on its home field.
“I was just trying to help my team any way possible,” Sindlinger said.
“We really deserved this and we worked so hard. It just feels great to bring home the win.”
Lexi Lese added a goal and 6 assists for Horseheads (12-4), and Lauren Kozemko scored 4 goals while topping 200 career points.
Hannah Sydlansky and Ellie Jankowski contributed 2 goals each for Horseheads. Other goal scorers were Emmie Fowler and Harley Ackerman. Fowler had 2 assists.
Vestal closed within 6-4 after trailing by a 5-2 margin through one quarter. Horseheads scored the final 13 goals.
“Yesterday I was like, ‘We’re going to bring home the sectional championship’ and I was like, ‘We don’t even have to bring it home because we’re already home,’ ” Lese said. “It feels so good to win it at home with all of our best friends. It’s like a dream come true.”
The game was Horseheads’ first since a 13-7 victory over Corning on May 7. In the three weeks since, a lot of practice time was geared toward getting primed for postseason play. Last year Vestal edged top-seeded Horseheads, 7-6, in the championship game.
“The day after that Corning game we came in and we all had a meeting and we wrote down a list of goals and what we wanted, and what we were going to see at practice, and it definitely paid off,” Kozemko said.
Alley Crowley scored 2 goals for Vestal. Claudia Fundis and Ella Sholett had 1 goal each, and Tedessa DiRenzo notched 2 assists.
Up next: Horseheads will play the Section 3 champion in a New York State Public High School Athletic Association sub-regional at 7:15 p.m. Thursday, June 4 at Chenango Valley High School.
“It’s not just sectionals that we’re striving to achieve,” Lese said. “We want to do more, we want to get further.”
Bates, Fontaine paced Little Red
Emma Bates had 6 goals and an assist to help Ithaca top Corning in the Class A championship game.
Ava Fontaine added 4 goals and 4 assists for the Little Red (13-2). Skyla Lee-Burns contributed 3 goals and an assist, while Sage Bliss notched 2 goals and 2 assists.
Brynna Walsh scored 5 goals for Corning (9-8) to go with an assist.
Other goal scorers for the Hawks were Kennedy Driscoll, Roni Nevins, Aubrey Rose, and Christina Peet with 1 each. Rose had 2 assists.
The Little Red topped Corning in the Class A sectional final for the second straight season after winning Class B championships in 2023 and 2024.
Up next: Ithaca will face the Section 3 champion in a sub-regional at 5 p.m. Thursday, June 4 at Chenango Valley High School.
This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Horseheads, Ithaca capture Section 4 titles in girls lacrosse
Reporting by Andrew Legare, Elmira Star-Gazette / Elmira Star-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
