As the calendar inched toward the end of April, the Liverpool boys lacrosse team continued to meet with its own frustrations, going to Holland Stadium last Tuesday night and taking a 10-9 double-overtime defeat to Auburn.
Even though the game was on wet natural grass, the Warriors handled it quite well, blanking the Maroons in the first quarter, but only gaining a 2-0 advantage before Auburn rallied and tied it, 3-3, going into halftime.
That momentum carried over deep into the second half, Liverpool falling behind 7-4 before it staged a furious late comeback, led by Matt Sala, who had three goals and one assist, and Kendall Keahey, who had two goals and two assists.
Having tied it, 9-9, the Warriors appeared to have the advantage going into overtime. But one four-minute period went without a resolution, and in the second OT Auburn got the ball and, with a well-timed shot from Anthony Alberici past Kyle Halladay, the Maroons won it.
Dom Castiglia joined Keahey, also scoring twice, with Dillon Rogers and Anthony Calabrese landing single goals and Connor Beaty adding an assist. Halladay had a tremendous game in the net, recording 13 saves.
Auburn’s well-balanced attack saw Alberici, Kaiden Tubbert, Jake Morin and Jack Burgmaster each get two goals, with Brian Cunningham (one goal, three assists) and Dan Entenmann (one goal, two assists) helping out.
Liverpool’s next task, on Friday, was cooling down the same Fayetteville-Manlius team that had halted Cicero-North Syracuse’s eight-game win streak on the same night the Warriors lost to Auburn.
But the Warriors couldn’t pull it off, falling 16-10. Tied 2-2 after one period, Liverpool saw F-M seize a 7-5 lead by halftime, and it stayed that way until the fourth quarter, when the Hornets, led by Erik Badger (six goals, two assists), closed on a 6-1 tear.
Connor Vaughn got his turn in goal and, like Halladay in the Liverpool game, made exactly 13 saves. Keahey had three goals, with Sala getting two goals and two assists. Antonio Rey had a goal an two assists as Beaty got one goal and one assist. Castiglia, Rogers and Steven Audley also reached the goal-scoring column.
Looking for a spark, Liverpool could get it from home games this week against Marcellus on Wednesday and Central Square on Friday night.
