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Jess Notaro lifts Lancaster to Section VI Class A girls lacrosse title

With elimination on the line, Jess Notaro and the Lancaster girls lacrosse team knew that they would have to make a few tactical changes in preparation for a rematch against Clarence.

One, in particular, stood out to Notaro.

“Shooting low,” Notaro said. “That was the thing we tried to do, all week in practice and in all of our scrimmages we had this week. It was an adjustment we knew we had to make.”

The Legends did that more than a few times in a 20-15 win against Clarence. Notaro scored five goals and Natalie Lian added four as the top-seeded Legends (14-4) won the Section VI Class A championship Thursday at Williamsville North. Lancaster will play at 11:30 a.m. Saturday in a Class A regional game at Williamsville North, with an opponent to be determined.

“A lot of our goals came down low, and the ones that didn’t, those were very strategically placed, and the plays were very well run,” Notaro said.

Clarence (14-4) cut Lancaster’s lead to 10-8 on a pair of goals by Emma Faso (five goals) with 3:20 left in the first half, but Lian scored goals in the final two minutes to give Lancaster a 12-9 lead at halftime.

Then, Notaro and Jordan Rokitka (three goals) scored in the first two minutes of the second half, and Lancaster opened its lead to 16-9 less than 10 minutes into the half.

Anevay Rice scored four goals for Clarence, and Claire Kiener added three.

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Frontier 11, Hamburg 6: Sarah Kaska scored four goals as Frontier (11-7) broke a 3-3 tie less than three minutes into the second half.

Kaitlyn Kelley scored the first of five goals in a seven-minute span for the Falcons, 2:25 into the second half. Hamburg cut the lead to 8-5 four minutes later, on goals by Sydney Gordon and Grace Platko (3 goals), but the Falcons maintained at least a four-goal lead for the remainder of the game.

Hamburg will play in a Class B regional game at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Williamsville North.

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Lake Shore 11, Amherst 10: Ball control and patience became key in the final minutes of regulation for Lake Shore.

Tashawni Cornfield scored two goals in the final three minutes of regulation to lift the Eagles (19-0) to the Class C sectional title. Cornfield (four goals) tied the game at 10-10 on a goal off a free position with 2:53 left, then scored the game-winning goal with 1:55 left to put Lake Shore into a Class C regional game at 11 a.m. Saturday at Williamsville North.

“We were tied, and none of us really wanted to go to overtime,” Cornfield said. “We’re sick of that. We tried to run the time out, as fast as we can, and once we had a chance to go in, we just said, ‘Go.’ The clock was key to winning this game.”

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Eden 15, Gowanda 14, OT: Scoring goals seemed to come at ease for Eden in the first half of the Class D final. But in the second half, it became a weighty task for the Raiders.

Eden (12-5) gave up only five goals in the first half to Gowanda, en route to a 12-5 lead at halftime. But after the Raiders opened their lead to 14-5 less than four minutes into the second half, they didn’t score again until overtime.

Alli Jacobs’ goal 1:09 into overtime for Eden decided a game in which Gowanda (12-4) scored nine unanswered goals in the final 20:27 of regulation, including Scotia Snyder’s goal with 1:27 left on a shot off a free position that forced overtime. Snyder scored six goals for the Panthers.

Jacobs’ game-winner was Eden’s first tally since Danielle Thompson gave the Raiders a nine-goal lead early in the second half. Jacobs’ goal in overtime put Eden in the state tournament, which begins Saturday.

“Emma Sutfin actually passed to me, and at first, I didn’t think I would have an angle,” said Jacobs, who scored four goals. “But I thought, ‘Why not?’ and I guess it worked out. I was really happy.”