Excitement was building, anticipation had grown, and the Cicero-North Syracuse boys lacrosse team was ready for its biggest home game in years with unbeaten West Genesee paying a Friday-night visit to Bragman Stadium.

The problem was that the Northstars forgot about the game in front of them – and paid dearly for it, venturing to Fayetteville-Manlius last Tuesday and allowing the desperate, struggling Hornets to rise again and dominate from start to finish, handing C-NS a 12-5 defeat.

Just on paper, it seemed a mismatch. The Northstars, no. 24 in the state Class A rankings, were riding a seven-game win streak, while F-M, the defending Section III champions, were mired at 3-5, having blown second-half leads in painful defeats to Auburn and Skaneateles the week before.

C-NS did score first, but Hornets goalie Brian Charlamb’s pair of point-blank saves sparked his side, especially on defense, and F-M blanked the Northstars for the rest of the first half while a steady attack piled up goals.

Suddenly, C-NS found itself trailing 6-1 at halftime, and even when its offense finally came to life in the third quarter, three times pulling within a three-goal margin, F-M answered every time, and then blanked the Northstars in the final period.

Brad Williams was the only C-NS player to score twice. Ryan Waldron, Zach Debottis and Ray Scarlata had the other goals, with Nate Scarlata contributing an assist. Zach Sheridan made 10 saves as Dylan Taylor-Wolford, with three goals and two assists, paced the F-M effort.

The struggles of that game, especially on the offensive side of the ball, carried over into Friday, when West Genesee showed up and contained the Northstars, handing the hosts a 10-4 defeat.

During a closely played first quarter, C-NS tried to put together a spurt, but instead fell behind 3-2. And that was as close as it would get, WG turning to its trademark man-to-man defense to fully contain the Northstars the rest of the way.

Even when C-NS blanked the Wildcats in the third quarter, it could only close the gap to 7-4, and WG allowed nothing more, so Waldron settled for two goals as Williams and Conner Collins got the other goals. Nick Riccardi was held to one assist and Debottis was kept off the board. Sheridan made 14 saves, but WG still got three-goal hat tricks from David Procopio and Ryan McDonald.

A day later, the skid ended for C-NS as it took out Canton 19-10. The frustrations of the previous two games were unleashed in a 10-goal first quarter for the Northstars that allowed it to lay back the rest of the way and protect a big lead.

Debottis, in particular, was glad to have some room to operate. He piled up five goals and seven assists, leading an attack where Riccardi and Scarlata both scored three times. Williams had two goals and two assists as Waldron, Brian Rowe and Drew Flack each had one goal and one assist. Matt Jordan, Brandon O’Brien and Dante Whitmire also earned goals.

C-NS takes on Central Square and Rome Free Academy early this week before meeting Auburn Thursday night, after which it will have just two regular-season games left.