The success of Cazenovia lacrosse players Chris Nourse and Kara Cannizzaro highlighted the presence of local athletes at last weekend’s 31st Empire State Games in Binghamton.
Nourse was a steady, solid presence for Central’s scholastic men at SUNY-Binghamton as it battled through a tightly played tournament to reach Sunday’s championship game before taking home the silver medal.
Central’s men began with easy wins over New York City (12-3) and Adirondack (12-4), only to stumble Friday in a 6-5 loss to Western. When it fell to Long Island 7-6 later that night, Central was 2-2 and needed a win over Hudson Valley Saturday night.
Delivering in a third straight one-goal decision, Nourse and his Central teammates beat Hudson Valley 8-7, and pulled out in front of a three-way tie-breaker with Western and Hudson Valley for second place (all were 3-2) by having a greater goal differential in its victories.
This led to Sunday’s final, and a rematch with Long Island — but this one would not be as close. Long Island streaked to a 6-2 halftime lead, then used six unanswered goals in the third quarter to pull away and prevail 14-3, leaving Central with second place.
As for Central’s scholastic women, Cannizzaro would prove to be one of its leading stars throughout the ESG tournament at Alumni Stadium behind Binghamton Middle School, earning a bronze medal in the process.
Though Central opened Thursday with a 12-11 overtime loss to Western, Cannizzaro still had two goals and two assists, including the tying goal with seven seconds left in regulation that sent it to OT. Later that day, her four goals helped Central beat Hudson Valley 12-10.
On Friday, Cannizzaro gained two goals and two assists in Central’s 9-6 conquest of Adirondack, then rested during a 20-0 shutout of New York City before a dramatic Saturday battle with Long Island.
Still with a chance at the gold, Central fell behind 4-0, only to rally, then go in front 6-5 on back-to-back goals by Cannizzaro. Long Island reclaimed the lead, went up by two, and though Cannizzaro connected for a third time with 18.4 seconds left, Central lost 8-7 and was relegated to Sunday’s bronze-medal game, a rematch with Hudson Valley.
Here, Central trailed 3-2 at halftime, but took over on both sides of the ball in the second half to win 9-6 and get the bronze as Cannizzaro landed one more goal, giving her eight for the tournament.
In the ESG scholastic women’s volleyball tournament at SUNY-Cortland, Julie Gregg, in her role as hitter and libero, helped Central to win a bronze medal.
Central was solid in round-robin play and reached the semifinals with a 5-3 mark before a 25-13, 25-21 loss to Long Island kept Gregg and her teammates from a shot at the title — which Western won.
Another Cazenovia star, Lindsey Smith, hepled Central bounce back from an 0-2 start to reach the medal round at Vestal High School.
Smith’s tie-breaking goal with 4:16 to play lifted Central past Hudson Valley 2-1 on Saturday morning, and a 3-2 victory over Western later that day pushed Central into the third-place match against Western. Here, Western prevailed 2-1 in overtime, pushing Smith and her Central teammates off the medal stand.
And in his annual ESG sailing venture, Cazenovia’s own Edward Smith worked his way up to fifth place in the 11-entry field at the Cornell Merrill Sailing Center in Ithaca. After a quiet start, Smith did well on day two, winning the eighth of 11 races on Friday to move up the standings and using other solid finishes to get to fifth in the end.
