Emotions ran all over the place for the Cicero-North Syracuse girls lacrosse team in Thursday night’s clash with Fayetteville-Manlius at Bragman Stadium.
From calm control to frenzied worry, the Northstars felt everything, but just in time it found its best form, rallying to force overtime and eventually beat the Hornets 15-12.
At one point late in the first half, C-NS carried a five-goal lead, but F-M erased it all and then moved out in front, 11-9, by making a 9-2 push that covered most of the second half. And even after the Northstars pulled even at 11-11, the Hornets regained the lead on Cara Esposito’s goal with 1:34 left in regulation.
But C-NS won the ensuing draw, getting the chance to work the ball around as time wound down. F-M was forced to foul, setting up a free-position attempt for Megan Caveny, and the sophomore midfielder ripped the shot past Hornets goalie Aubrey Devreau with 20.5 seconds to play.
That sent it to overtime, where the Northstars, having reclaimed the momentum for good, went ahead on back-to-back goals from Courtney Kenny in the first of the two three-minute extra periods.
Tiffany Ryan added a goal just before that first OT ended, and after Stefani Reynolds made the last of her 12 saves early in the second OT, C-NS ran out the rest of the clock to improve its record to 7-4.
What made this win even bigger was the fact that C-NS had lost to archrival Liverpool 11-10 two nights earlier at LHS Stadium, the Warriors salvaging a regular-season split and avenging a 15-8 defeat to the Northstars back on April 9.
Liverpool led 8-5 at the half and withstood C-NS’s late charge behind Mallorie O’Brien’s five goals and one assist. Lauren Mancini stepped up, too, with three goals and one assist, while Kasi Cabrey, Jessica Attaway and Rachel Kline had one goal apiece.
Ryan and Meghan Duffy each had three-goal hat tricks for the Northstars, with Hanna Haven scoring twice. Sarah Bowles and Kristi Thompson each had one goal.
Remembering how poorly it started against Liverpool, the Northstars didn’t make that same mistake against F-M, tearing out to a 7-2 lead behind three goals from Meghan Duffy and two goals from Ryan. Often, the passes came from Samantha Tortora, who would finish the night with six assists.
Trailing 7-3 at the break, F-M caught up by scoring four times in a span of 2:20 early in the second half, the charge led by Esposito and Marri Ryu, who would finish with four goals apiece as Lindsey Trachtenberg added trhree goals.
Things got really wild late in the second half. They traded goals until Esposito and Ryu scored 38 seconds apart, giving F-M an 11-9 edge. But C-NS stormed right back, Ryan earning her first goal of the night and Duffy getting her fourth to tie it, 11-11, setting up the exciting final act.
Kenny, with her OT conversions, finished with a three-goal hat trick. Tortora, Bryar Cummings, Sarah Bowles, Hanna Haven and Kristi Thompson matched Caveny with one goal apiece.
