Following years of waiting to get back into the limelight, the Liverpool boys lacrosse team is ready to feel it in the brightest way possible.
The Warriors are bound for Wednesday night’s Section III Class A semifinal against defending state champion West Genesee after beating Auburn 10-7 at home in last Saturday’s quarterfinal round.
This was something close to an exact reversal of the game Liverpool and Auburn played on that same field eight days earlier, a regular-season finale where the Maroons prevailed, 11-8. Many thought that the team’s extra post-season experience (it reached last year’s Class A final) would prove valuable in the rematch, too.
What turned around, though, was the fact that Liverpool got a chance to adjust to the slowed-down tempo Auburn threw at them, and vowed to stay patient this time and wait for its chances.
Even with that, Liverpool inched into a 6-5 lead at halftime. From that point forward, the Warriors’ defense really took charge as Jake Gyder, Nick Peryea, Pat Brosnan and the rest of the back line held the Maroons to just one goal in each of the last two periods. Ryan Duffy picked up 10 saves.
On the offensive end, Liverpool seized a 9-6 edge by the end of the third quarter behind near-perfect offensive balance. Tyler Kamide had two goals and three assists as Derek Thomas, Devin Clegg, Mitch Long and Matt DiMarco each matched that two-goal output.
Now the Warriors get West Genesee, a team it lost to twice in the regular season — once on April 14, the other on May 9, the game that was head coach Mike Messere’s 700th career win. The winner of Wednesday’s game at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium returns Friday night to CNS to face Corcoran or Fayetteville-Manlius for the Class A title.
As for the girls lacrosse Warriors, it would put a scare into no. 2 seed Baldwinsville in the Class A semifinals at Marcellus High School, only to take a 10-8 loss to the Bees.
B’ville, no. 2 in the state Class A rankings, had easily won both regular-season meetings with Liverpool. But that had come before one of its key players, Erika Bulken, suffered a torn ACL during the team’s lone loss of the season to West Genesee on May 19.
Without her, the Bees still controlled much of the first half against Liverpool, winning draws and constantly attacking. Without goalie Mikey Meagher making a series of point-blank stops, it might have turned into a rout.
Instead, Liverpool only trailed 6-2 at the break, and led by Kathleen Conese and Jennifer VanderMeulen, the Warriors would make a comeback attempt.
Both Conese and VanderMeulen finished with three goals, and Meagher continued to excel, finishing with 16 saves as the Warriors nearly caught up. Kristen Lombard and Alison Flood added single goals.
B’ville held on, though, behind a strong defense that, among other things, held Marybeth Madia to a single assist, and a balanced attack where Jen Fabian, Kara Moschetti, Quincey Spagnoletti and Katie VanDeValk each had two goals.
