Each of Cicero-North Syracuse’s lacrosse teams, armed with no. 5 seeds, wanted long stays in the Section III Class A playoffs, but could not quite get them.

Of the two, the boys Northstars carried more frustration, going to no. 4 seed Baldwinsville Thursday and nearly knocking off the surging Bees before a 7-6 overtime defeat.

As the OT started, the Bees claimed the face-off and charged into the Northstars’ end. At the 20-second mark, Steve Petrelli, who already had two assists on the day, fired a shot past C-NS goalie Bryan Schenk to win it.

That quick, decisive strike contrasted all that had taken place in regulation, where C-NS nearly staged a total reversal from its 15-4 defeat to these same Bees in their only regular-season meeting on May 19.

Remembering how that first game went, the Northstars slowed it down whenever possible, especially in the second quarter. Thus, the Bees rarely had the ball and, from a 2-2 deadlock, saw C-NS grab a 4-2 lead going to the break.

During the third quarter, B’ville did a better job on the face-offs, which translated into shots – and a trio of goals that pushed the Bees in front 5-4.

Despite this, C-NS stayed patient, and worked its way back even 6-6 as Mike Fiorini (three goals) and Matt Kennedy (two goals) carried the attack and Schenk kept turning away B’ville chances, finishing with 17 saves before surrendering the OT goal. Parker Ferrigan, just named a first-team All-American, had his own strong game in the net as he recorded 17 saves.

Going first, the girls Northstars were also tied with their opponent, no. 4 seed Fayetteville-Manlius, in last Tuesday night’s opening round, only to see the Hornets get away and prevail 17-11.

These same two sides had met May 1, with F-M winning 11-8, and for a while the rematch was even tighter.

Numerous times, the Hornets would surge ahead, by as many as three goals (6-3) in the first half. Every time, C-NS would recover, twice pulling even and using Sarah Bowles’ tally in the last minute of the half to get within 7-6 at the break.

The back-and-forth play continued early in the second half, the Northstars falling behind 9-7 before Hannah Haven and Tiffany Ryan connected on back-to-back goals that made it 9-9.

But after that Ryan tally (her third) with 21:15 left, C-NS did not score for more than 10 minutes, a drought that all but decided the outcome. F-M steadily built a 14-9 edge, and despite late goals from Bowles and Meghan Duffy, C-NS could not recover.

Overall, Ryan and Bowles both managed three-goal hat tricks, with Duffy adding two goals and two assists and Haven getting two goals and one assist. Sarah Bisesi had a late tally, with Kristi Thompson managing two assists.

Alex Murphy and Cara Esposito led F-M, each with four goals and one assist, while Grace Donahue had three goals and two assists. F-M went on to lose to West Genesee in the Class A semifinals two nights later.