Three seconds – not a long time, but enough to hurt the Fayetteville-Manlius boys lacrosse team.
That was how much remained in the first half of last Tuesday’s game against visiting West Genesee when the Hornets, cruising along and enjoying a three-goal lead, got suddenly burned.
It was Matt Schattner doing the honors, as the Wildcat senior captain flung a bounce shot past F-M goalie Matt Wells just three ticks before the horn. From there, the fired-up visitors zoomed past the Hornets in the second half and prevailed by a score of 9-7.
All was set up for F-M’s payback as it looked to avenge a 7-5 defeat to WG on April 7 in Camillus. Winners of eight in a row, the Hornets, with the no. 9 spot in the latest state Class A rankings, had newfound momentum from an 8-7, come-from-behind overtime win at Baldwinsville three nights earlier, and were playing on home turf.
The first 23 minutes, 57 seconds went quite well, starting with Ryan Simmons snapping up the opening face-off, racing to the net and beating WG goalie Scott Sidnam just 15 seconds into the game.
That was the only goal by either team in the first quarter. The Wildcats had more shots, but Wells turned all of them back, earning the majority of his 12 saves in that opening period.
Simmons tacked on two more goals in the second period, with Kevin Lux also finding the net. So as the half wound down, F-M led 4-1 and possessed the ball, too, eager to add to the margin.
Instead, WG made a stop, and made one more push in the waning seconds. Schattner said he asked for the ball and, looking to spark his side, did so with the goal that made it 4-2 at the break.
Early in the third quarter, WG pulled even, 4-4, with back-to-back goals by Jake Darrow, each fed by Tim Barber, who ended the night with two goals and three assists. Then, in a 90-second span late in the period, R.J. Tinklepaugh and Brett Henderson put in goals, and the Wildcats led for good.
Twice in the fourth quarter, the Hornets did get within one, at 6-5 and 7-6, as Simmons put in his fourth goal and Derek Andrake also converted. Both times, the Wildcats had ready answers, capped by Barber and Schattner hitting goals in the waning minutes that provided the winning margin.
This result, to put it lightly, left the Hornets in a very foul mood. That was bad news for Cicero-North Syracuse, who arrived at F-M on Thursday afternoon and was obliterated in a 17-2 romp that may not have even been that close, if that was possible.
The Northstars carried a 7-5 record into the contest, so this wasn’t a pushover of an opponent – in fact, it had only lost to West Genesee 6-1 the week before.
This was simply a matter of F-M unleashing frustration right from the opening face-off, which led to a 9-0 margin by the end of the first quarter and a 13-0 lead at halftime.
This onslaught included five goals from Lux and five assists from Jimmy Krizman, while Clay Arnold chimed in with three goals and one assist. Derek Andrake and Dan Cahill each scored twice, with Simmons managing a goal and two assists. Kory Arnold and Alex Ferrar each got one goal and one assist as Erik Keller scored, too.
As if F-M needed more motivation, next Tuesday’s game at Liverpool provided it, giving the Hornets a chance to avenge its loss to those same Warriors a year ago in the Section III Class A semifinals, and reestablish its full confidence with the playoffs fast approaching.
