It took staying patient, and it took enduring a month’s worth of physical and mental mistakes, but the Cicero-North Syracuse boys lacrosse team still found a way past its neighbor and primary rival.
The Northstars, down by two with less than four minutes to play, fought back and pulled out an 8-7 victory over Liverpool Friday night at Solvay’s Earl Hadley Stadium, the Warriors’ temporary home field.
With that win, CNS improved to 9-4 and, with a 7-3 league mark, took a large step toward earning the CNY Counties League regular-season title. The Northstars were tied for first with Liverpool in the standings entering the night.
Much of the game was a sloppy affair, perhaps fitting given the intensity of any CNS-Liverpool contest in any sport. There were as many turnovers as scoring chances, and both sides got hurt by penalties.
Late in the first quarter, CNS surged into a 3-1 lead on Scott Slater’s back-to-back goals, but it would not score the rest of the half, rarely able to get quality shots due to all of the giveaways.
Meanwhile, Liverpool had its own issues, but also got goals in the last 20 seconds of both of the first two periods. And when long-stick midfielder Pat Brosnan burst in and scored 6.4 seconds before the break, the Warriors had a 4-3 lead.
Still up 5-4 going into the fourth quarter, Liverpool had a three-minute possession, yet could not convert as CNS’s zone defense, anchored by Scott Brodhead, Billy Temple and Corey Barnes, kept it close.
Soon after, Pat Tierney tied it at 5-5, but it looked like Liverpool had finally seized control when Matt Savlov converted with 7:17 left and, on a power play, Devin Clegg scored 31 seconds later.
Now, though, the Warriors could not hold on to the ball. Given new life, CNS pushed and, with 3:31 left, cut it to 7-6 when Slater fed Sean McCafrery for the goal.
Then Mike Debottis took over. After CNS forced another crucial turnover, Debottis charged and beat Jamie Campagna for the tying goal with 1:37 to play.
The Northstars won the scramble for the face-off, then called time-out. After working the ball around, Debottis got the ball, worked to the net – and flung a hard shot past Campagna with 43.4 seconds left.
Still, the Warriors got one more chance, forcing a turnover, then using both of its time-outs to get a shot near the net at the end of regulation. But Brodhead stripped Matt DiMarco before he could take a shot as the clock ran out.
Both sides entered the showdown coming off comfortable wins last Tuesday night over different kinds of Black Knights, as CNS ripped Rome Free Academy 12-3 and Liverpool took out Henninger by a similar 14-5 margin.
In the Northstars’ case, it blanked RFA over the first three periods at Bragman Stadium, its defense not allowing any goal until the starters had gone.
Meanwhile, CNS displayed a balanced attack where Dave Banks had two goals and two assists.McCaffery, Slater and Debottis each matched that two-goal output, with Nick Russo and Tierney matching each other with a goal and two assists. Justin Petrie and Joe Becker also scored.
Liverpool proved more methodical at Sunnycrest Field, in fact falling behind 3-1 in the first quarter and not doing much about it the rest of the half.
Staring at a third straight loss, the Warriors woke up in the third period and flattened Henninger the rest of the way, outscoring them 12-1.
DiMarco had four goals and one assists, with Clegg and Joe Corapi each getting three goals. Nick Kline had a goal and three assists, with Chris Spencer gaining one goal and two assists. Savlov and Kyle DeAngelis also scored.
