Cazenovia scored four of the first five goals to take a strong lead into their State Semi-Final match against Penn Yan. The Lakers defeated the Mustangs 9-5 and will move on to play Cold Spring Harbor this Saturday at Vestal High School. Cazenovia played a more consistent game. They showed their skill with second and third attempts at the ball. On a number of plays they lost the initial ground ball and then came at the ball even stronger to re-take possession on the second or third attempt. This held true with most statistics including face-offs, shots, and clears. Although multiple Lakers had strong games, there were stand out performances from face off midfielder Peter Burr, attackman PJ Brown and goalie Brenden Whalen. Burr, Brown and Whalen exemplified the type of play that we all hope to see.

Burr finished the game under 50%, but won a number of key face offs for the Lakers. He led his team in ground balls with six and scored 1g. Whalen finished with 10 saves (67%) including a number of point blank saves that he had no business stopping. He cleared with efficiency and was a staple for the Laker defense. Attackman PJ Brown finished with a team leading 3g-1a off of nine shots for Cazenovia.

The Lakers came out swinging and scored back to back goals to open the contest. Brown started off with a drive along the right side of GLE and put the shot over goalie Gage Ponsetti's shoulder. Ponsetti finished with six saves for the Mustangs. He had difficulty in the opening half with five goals scored before his second save. Three minutes later Jake Stowell scored his first goal with an outside shot from the right flat. Stowell finished with 2g-1a for the Lakers. Penn Yan scored their first goal with 0:39 remaining in the first quarter with an inside feed by Austin Fingar to Craig Gerhardt. Fingar finished with 2a and 10 ground balls. He took the face offs for Penn Yan and finished at 53%. Whalen seemed to have Fingar's number: He took 5 shots (the most of his team) with 4 on cage that were all saved by Whalen. Cazenovia led 2-1 after the first quarter.

They continued their pressure in the second quarter outscoring the Mustangs 4-2. Caz scored the opening two goals again in the second quarter with an outside shot from Stowell. Less than one minute later Stowell assisted Brown for his second goal. The Mustangs started a brief comeback with a dramatic goal from their keeper, Ponsetti who took the ball all the way from a save to the opposite goal. The Mustangs had difficulty throughout the contest with the ten men press from Cazenovia. On the ensuing face off Fingar won the draw clean and took it up Sean Emerson. Emerson dodged his man and the slide before scoring eight seconds after Ponsetti's goal. Burr stopped the momentum on the next draw winning that face off clean and taking it straight to the cage to keep Cazenovia ahead 5-3. The play continued back and forth for the next seven minutes before the Lakers scored the final goal of the quarter with an impressive feed from Brown to attackman Jake Lewis. The Lakers led 6-3 at halftime.

Each team added one goal in the third quarter as Cazenovia began to slow the ball down and Penn Yan attempted to get back in the game. The Lakers were called to keep it in repeatedly in the third and fourth quarters and reduced their shooting attempts. The Mustangs scored the first goal with Tate Stewart scoring from a feed from behind by Emerson. Two minutes later Cole Willard scored his lone goal on a fast break down the right side. The Lakers held the three goal lead 7-4 after 36 minutes.

The Mustangs scored the first goal during a man-up with an outside shot by Emerson from Fingar at 9:22. It was the last goal that Penn Yan scored. Cazenovia added two more goals in the final five minutes. Brown and Lewis both scored unassisted goals to finish out the contest.