Living as season-long nomads due to the reconstruction of Alibrandi Stadium, the Christian Brothers Academy boys lacrosse team have certainly kept things interesting.
At the same time, though, back-to-back overtime defeats to Skaneateles and Marcellus on April 23 and 25, respectively, left the Brothers furious as it entered yet another tough and busy gauntlet of games.
And in the middle of it all, CBA went to overtime again Thursday night against Cazenovia — but finally came out on top over the Lakers by a familiar 10-9 margin on the turf at Nottingham High School.
Nate Frechette’s goal, 1:10 into the extra period, ended it, but CBA had a chance to put things away long before it got to that point.
Playing some of its best defense of the season, CBA frustrated Cazenovia’s attack all through the first half in wet, windy conditions. With enough offense thrown into the mix, the Brothers seized a 5-2 advantage by halftime.
When Jarred DePalma scored late in the third quarter, CBA had an 8-3 edge, and nothing Cazenovia was doing suggested the game would be close — until Justin Hoffman intercepted an errant clearing pass by goalie Nate Wadsworth and scored just before time ran out in the period.
Fired up by that play, Cazenovia closed within one, then didn’t slow down when Ty Murphy converted with 3:33 left to make it 9-7. A minute later, Hoffman cut that margin in half again, then hit on a rebound goal with 38.5 seconds left in regulation to tie it, 9-9.
Neither team could settle it in regulation, so it meant yet another OT session for the Brothers. This time, DePalma won the face-off and, after two errant shots and a time-out, Frechette charged in from the left side and beat Ben Bowers for the game-winner.
Both DePalma and David Biegler produced three-goal hat tricks, as Murphy added two goals and John Greacen scored, too. Hoffman led the Lakers’ rally with four goals. Wadsworth finished with 16 saves.
Nothing close to overtime was required for CBA as it went to Jordan-Elbridge last Tuesday night and flew past the Eagles 15-7.
For a long while, it stayed close. Led by Dylan Johnson’s four goals, the Eagles only trailed by one, 5-4, at halftime, and into the fourth quarter another painful loss was possible.
Tired of all this, CBA dominated the final period, winning every face-off and posting six unanswered goals.
All game long, Biegler, with five goals, and DePalma, with four goals, led the way. Jeff Gildemeyer stepped up, as he and Tom Trasolini both had two goals. Casey Lasda had a goal and three assists as Greacen earned one goal and one assist. Charlie Johnston had an assist, too. Wadsworth finished with 10 saves.
Even with these wins, though, CBA couldn’t sustain its momentum, as it went to Westhill on Saturday and took a 13-10 loss to the Warriors.
Mostly, the Brothers paid the price for a tough first half where Westhill claimed a 9-5 lead, then withstood all of CBA’s comeback attempts.
Biegler had three goals, with Frechette adding two goals and three assists. Lasda also scored twice as Murphy, Trasolini and Matt Dugan each had one goal and one assist. Greacen also scored. Wadsworth had 11 saves. For Westhill, Dylan Tripodi (four goals, two assists), Dan Eipp (two goals, four assists) and Kyle Nicholas (three goals) led the way.
