Not since the late 1990s has the Cicero-North Syracuse girls lacrosse team occupied a spot atop the Section III Class A ranks.
Perhaps this is the season where that changes for the Northstars, as it made a strong opening statement Tuesday night with an 18-6 victory over Jamesville-DeWitt at Bragman Stadium.
Part of the reason head coach Lloyd Hamilton can feel optimism for 2013 is the youth on his roster. Of the 29 girls present, just four are seniors, with a heavy junior presence and plenty of key players that are sophomores and freshmen, too.
On this particular night, C-NS also benefited from the time it has spent practicing on its turf field, which, while curtailed by the persistent March snows, was far more than J-D had, the Red Rams unable to practice or even scrimmage on a full field until this night.
One of those four seniors, Sarah Bowles, was less than two weeks removed from leading the C-NS girls basketball team to the state Class AA final four. And it was Bowles scoring the game’s first goal less than 90 seconds in, off a feed from ninth-grader Meghan Duffy.
Though the Rams’ Taylor Fallon tied it, 1-1, Duffy answered quickly, and that ignited a stretch where the Northstars scored three times in a span of 1:11 to move in front for good, the other goals coming from reserves Courtney Kenny and another freshman, Samantha Tortora.
Kenny and Tortora added goals late in the half, as did Hanna Haven, but the half still ended on a sour note when J-D’s Sam McKenna threw in a goal just before the horn, cutting the Northstars’ lead to 7-2.
Burned by that, the Northstars quickly made it 9-2 early in the second half on goals by Haven and Miriam Ghabarou. Another quick scoring stretch – three goals in 1:16 by Tortora, Duffy and Bryar Cummings – stretched the margin to 12-3 and initiated a 6-0 run that put it out of reach.
Tortora and Kenny, with three goals apiece, led a well-balanced attack. Bowles and Duffy each scored twice and added a pair of assists, while Ghabarou, Haven and Megan Caveny matched that two-goal output. Tiffany Ryan contributed a goal and two assists.
Each of the C-NS players also wore a red-and-gold ribbon in memory of Seton Hill (Pa.) University women’s lacrosse coach Kristina Quigley, who lost her life March 16 in a bus accident near Harrisburg as her team was traveling to a game at Millersville University.
After a week of practice of preparation, C-NS will get a much tougher assignment next Tuesday when it hosts defending state Class A champion West Genesee, followed by an April 5 visit to Marcellus.
