Most of the Liverpool boys lacrosse team’s most important contests in 2012, against the likes of West Genesee and Fayetteville-Manlius, take plate late in the regular season.
There was an exception, though. The Warriors met rival Cicero-North Syracuse Tuesday afternoon at Bragman Stadium and patiently waited until the second half to see its all-around game click in a 12-3 victory over the Northstars.
C-NS was off to its own 2-1 start, but knew its level of play had to increase in this, its only encounter with Liverpool this spring.
And at least on the defensive side, the Northstars did excel, at least in the first half. Most of the times a Liverpool player would charge toward the net, back-line players like Gabe Lavere, Ryan Jordan and Shaun McDonald would strip the ball out. Either that, or sophomore goalie Bryan Schenk would make a sharp stop.
Due to this, the Warriors, who took most of the shots in the first two periods, only led 4-2 at halftime. The difference at that point was a nine-second flurry in the second quarter where freshman Keahey Kendall scored and, off the ensuing face-off, Logan Thomas converted with Jamie Kuppel earning the assist.
Ultimately, C-NS would pay for its inability to hang on to the ball, even when not under pressure from Liverpool’s defenders. The rash of turnovers throughout the afternoon prevented the Northstars from finding any sort of rhythm.
It took Kyle DeAngelis to spark Liverpool’s runaway. Twice in the third quarter, the senior midfielder ripped in hard shots from the point, and that, plus an assist on Kuppel’s goal, stretched the lead to 7-3.
Though it didn’t score again until the fourth quarter, Liverpool made up for that deficiency with a late offensive surge. Austin Hope, who had the game’s first goal, added two more, with Thomas, Kirshner and Nick Kline also finding the net.
Liverpool’s defense, led by the senior trio of Bryan Capone, Mike Czachowski and Kyle Spencer, blanked C-NS over the last 21:18 of the contest. Prior to that, Zach Waldron had scored twice, with Tyler Heldt earning the other goal.
