A 4-0 start that included high-quality wins over Fayetteville-Manlius and Liverpool may have lured the Cicero-North Syracuse boys lacrosse team into thinking that it was firmly established among the top Section III Class A sides.
If so, that feeling dissipated a bit during last Tuesday’s visit to Corcoran. Trailing most of the way, the Northstars made its customary second-half rally, but this time could not finish it off as it took an 8-7 defeat to the Cougars.
Sporting its own 3-1 record (its lone loss came to Baldwinsville), Corcoran played a strong, steady first half, moving out in front and leaning on a patient attack, plus a stifling defense, to frustrate C-NS as it grabbed a 6-3 halftime lead.
Accustomed to falling behind, C-NS, whose had come back in both the F-M and Liverpool games, did so again in the third quarter of this game, using three consecutive goals to forge a 6-6 tie.
Corcoran went back in front, 7-6, just before the fourth quarter, and then tried to hang on, but C-NS again pulled even, 7-7, and set the stage for a dramatic.
With less than 30 seconds left, the Cougars had the ball and, after a time-out, saw Justin Harlow, who had not scored all night, rush to the net and fire a shot past Northstars goalie Bryan Schenk, which proved to be the game-winner.
Andrew Burns led C-NS, scoring twice and adding a pair of assists. Tyler Griffo and Nick Mirizio both had two goals and one assist, with Zach Debottis adding a goal and two assists. Schenk made nine saves as Sean Eccles and Mitch Laffin led Corcoran with three goals apiece and Eccles added a pair of assists.
Needing to recover quickly, the Northstars came home to Bragman Stadium to face Oswego two nights later, and while it was far from a smooth effort, C-NS did beat the Buccaneers 15-9.
All of the margin was built in the first half, where the Northstars, breaking its recent trend of slow starts, steadily worked through Oswego’s defenses and didn’t let up until it had a 10-4 lead a the break.
By blanking the Bucs in the third quarter, C-NS grew that margin to 12-4, so it could withstand Oswego’s late charge, all of it engineered by Mitch Schrader, who finished with seven goals and one assist.
No single player had to carry the Northstars’ attack, though Debottis did manage four goals and one assist. In all, 10 players had at least one goal, with Ben Colwell scoring twice and Burns managing a goal and two assists. Mirizio, Matt Bartolo, Ozzy Crisalli, Jason Dickson, Cody Nitzke and Nick Riccardi managed single goals.
Liverpool, still without a win in 2014, would take its own shot at Corcoran on Thursday night at LHS Stadium, and like C-NS would meet with defeat, falling to the Cougars 11-6.
The second quarter proved decisive. Tied 1-1, the Warriors stayed cold as Corcoran used four unanswered goals to go in front, and unlike the Northstars, Liverpool could not recover, the deficit growing to 9-2 before a late surge.
Dom Castiglia and Kendall Keahey both scored twice for the Warriors. Justin Renk had a goal and two assists, with Dillon Rogers getting one goal and one assist. Antonio Rey and Matt Sala got assists. Corcoran saw Eccles get three goals and three assists and Alex Waelder add three goals and two assists.
On Saturday night, Liverpool got closer to that elusive victory, against undefeated Class C contender Westhill, but still fell to that other group of Warriors 8-7.
A quiet first half proved costly for Liverpool, who managed just a single goal and fell behind 4-1. It nearly caught up in the third quarter, getting within 5-4, but every time it tried to move ahead late, Westhill had an answer.
Renk still managed three goals and one assist, with Castiglia and Keahey each scoring twice. Peter Sterio and Anthony Calabrese also earned assists as Kyle Halladay stopped 13 of the 21 shots he faced. By contrast, seven different Westhill players got at least one goal, with only Richie Easterly finding the net twice as Jack Centore added a goal and two assists.
