What the Christian Brothers Academy boys lacrosse team is quickly learning is that, in order to achieve its full potential against high-quality opposition, it must play a full game, or else.
That was exactly the lesson from last Tuesday night’s 11-7 defeat to defending Section III Class C champion Cazenovia at Alibrandi Stadium, a contest where, for most of the night, the Brothers outscored the Lakers – but had to in order to make it interesting.
Even though Cazenovia, no. 3 in the latest state Class C rankings, was playing in the middle of a stretch of eight games in 14 days and had taken on LaFayette a night earlier (winning 13-6), it still jumped all over CBA in a decisive opening spurt.
The Lakers didn’t dominate the time of possession, but still bolted out to a 6-0 lead, getting those six goals from six different players – Derek White, Jake Stowell, P.J. Brown, Cole Willard, Jake Lewis and Adam Hunt, in that order. Meanwhile, Cazenovia’s defense, mixing in zone and man-to-man looks, frustrated the Brothers’ potent attack, causing a string of turnovers.
Finally getting on the board with goals with a pair of goals from Lincoln McGarrity, CBA close the gap to 6-2 at the break, and then at away at the Lakers’ margin throughout the second half.
This was helped by two instances where the Brothers scored twice in short spans – Ben McCreary and Zach Taylor converting seven seconds apart, and then Alex Calkins and Ben Martin in an 11-second span in the last minute of the third quarter.
Yet every time the game got a bit suspenseful, the Lakers would answer with a timely goal. Cole Willard hit the last of them, with 4:58 to play, after CBA had closed the gap to 10-7, and Cazenovia’s defense blanked the Brothers the rest of the way.
This started a homestand that included, Thursday night, a visit from Carthage, long the dominant team in the Frontier League, who arrived with a 6-2 record that included losses to South Jefferson and Penn Yan.
None of this fazed the Brothers – not even the snowfall and wind that made conditions even more difficult, but which CBA conquered to defeat the Comets 12-6.
Remembering how poorly it started against Cazenovia, the Brothers jumped on Carthage and led, 6-1, after one period. But even as CBA cooled off in the game’s middle stages, it didn’t let the Comets put together a sustained scoring run, mostly due to the work of goalie Matt Vavonese, who would stop 12 of the 18 shots he faced.
Vavonese would pitch a fourth-quarter shutout as the Brothers, up 9-6, doubled its margin and pulled away. McGarrity and McCreary each finished with three-goal hat tricks, while Jack Jeschke, held to a single assist by Cazenovia, rebounded with two goals and two assists.
Augustus Bonacci also scored twice as Taylor added a goal and two assists. Calkins also had two assists. For Carthage, only Josh Yelvington, with three goals, found the net more than once.
Playing again on Sunday, CBA hosted Albany Academy and roared past the Crusaders 20-4, putting up its highest goal total of the season, but also recording defensive shutouts in the second and fourth quarters to put things away.
Taylor lit it up with five goals and four assists. McCreary scored four times, adding an assist, while McGarity and Martin both notched three goals. Calkins had two goals and two assists as Jeschke managed a goal and two assists and Jace Whelan earned three assists. Bonacci and Dan Nerenhausen earned one goal apiece and Vavonese got credit for an assist.
Now at 6-3 on the season, CBA would take its shot at Westhill Tuesday night, the first of three road games in five days that includes visits to Homer on Thursday and LaFayette on Saturday afternoon.
