When the Cicero-North Syracuse girls lacrosse team had its second encounter with West Genesee last Tuesday night at Bragman Stadium, it remembered how, two weeks earlier, it went to Camillus and, with a late-game surge, erased a four-goal deficit to stun the reigning state Class A champions.
Of course, the Wildcats remembered this, too – and every one of them was bent on making sure that didn’t happen again.
Sparked by a string of first-half saves from goalie Katherine Widrick, WG took command and never let go of it, eventually beating the Northstars 15-4 to gain the inside track to a possible top seed when the Section III Class A playoffs roll around.
The irony about the rematch was that, in the two weeks since that defeat to C-NS, West Genesee had climbed back to the top of the state Class A rankings, while the Northstars fell to no. 4 after a 16-11 defeat to Skaneateles on April 25, three days before seeing WG again.
So WG not only was going after payback against C-NS, it was defending the top spot in the state polls, and it would do both with, arguably, its best all-around effort of the season.
All that Widrick allowed in the first half was Meghan Duffy’s one-timer shot, fed by Hanna Haven, at the 6:01 mark. But that followed goals from Kyra Bednarski, Nicky Delaney and Lexie Meager that put WG in front to stay.
The entire Wildcat defense was in top form. Madison Pritchard, Courtney Shoults, Allyson Trice, Jessica Dussing and the rest of WG’s back line locked down the trio of Duffy, Haven and Bryar Cummings, forcing several turnovers.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats’ attack was patient and waited for chances to strike. Two more goals made it 5-1 and forced a C-NS time-out, but that didn’t stop WG’s surge, as Meager struck again late in the half and Mackenzie Baker struck for a goal 9.7 seconds before the horn.
Up 7-1 at the break, the Wildcats turned to senior Grace Osterdale, who thwarted any hopes of a C-NS rally. In a span of 45 seconds, the senior attacker assisted on Baker’s second goal, and then scored twice herself.
Now trailing 10-1, C-NS finally broke a scoring drought that stretched more than 27 minutes with Christie Hahn’s goal. But that, combined with late goals from Haven and Brenna Duffy, was all that the Northstars could manage.
Both Osterdale and Baker finished with three-goal hat tricks, with Baker adding three assists and Bednarkski producing four goals. Delaney and Meager both had two goals and one assist.
Two nights later, C-NS rebounded in a big way, smashing Fayetteville-Manlius 19-9 as each of the Northstars’ trio of top players took out their frustrations from the previous game on the Hornets.
As C-NS pulled away late, Meghan Duffy amassed six goals and three assists, while Haven and Cummings each netted four goals. Samantha Tortora was solid, too, with two goals and three assists, as Megan Tryniski, Jessica Meneilly and Julia Alberici had one goal apiece.
Meanwhile, it was Liverpool’s turn to host West Genesee Thursday night, and the result was the same, the Warriors falling to the Wildcats 18-1 as Osterdale put in five goals and two assists to lead the visitors.
Before it took its shot at West Genesee, Liverpool rolled through last Tuesday night’s game with Central Square, prevailing by a 15-3 margin.
Already up 10-3 by halftime, the Warriors blanked the Redhawks the rest of the way, seeing Jen Kershner put up five goals and Julia Sardella add five goals.
Kasi Cabrey put up five assists, in addition to scoring twice, as Maggie Tassone, Megan Fitzpatrick, Abby Hope and Veronica Brancato picked up one goal apiece.
Liverpool has the rest of its regular-season games on the road, visiting Baldwinsville Tuesday and Fayetteville-Manlius Monday before ending at Auburn early next week. C-NS, meanwhile, would have its own games with Central Square and Auburn this week before next Tuesday’s trip to Syracuse closes its regular-season slate.
