Not only has the East Syracuse-Minoa boys lacrosse team kept itself among the handful of undefeated teams left in the Section III ranks, it has done so constantly rallying to pull out tight and dramatic contests.
Such a thing happened again in Thursday’s game against New Hartford. In the clash of Spartan sides, ESM trailed late in the fourth quarter, but made it all up and managed to pull out an 8-7 victory to improve it mark to 7-0. Four of those seven wins have come by a single goal.
Following a scoreless first quarter, New Hartford asserted itself, building up a 4-1 lead by halftime, only to see ESM match those totals in the third quarter, tying the game at 5-5.
Another exchange of goals followed in the fourth quarter, and the game was 6-6 when, with a minute left, New Hartford’s Jesse Ondrako fired home a shot to put his side in front 7-6.
All that seemed to do, though, was inspire another ESM rally, as it claimed the face-off, raced down the field and watched Corey Haynes score less than 10 seconds later to tie it again, 7-7.
Before New Hartford could regroup, ESM won another face-off and attacked again, and again Haynes made the big play, putting in the goal with 18 seconds left.
Now with some urgency, New Hartford snagged the ensuing face-off and worked for a shot. With two seconds left, Nick Cooke bounced it – too high, and ESM held on.
With those two late tallies, Haynes earned a hat trick, finishing with three goals and one assist. Andrew Rosso had two goals and two assists, with Jeremy Perry and Joe Rosaschi getting the other goals. Alec Miller recorded six saves. Connor Nelson led New Hartford with three goals.
In stark contrast, ESM routed Syracuse East 15-3 on Saturday afternoon, meaning that it was a perfect 8-0 at the midway point of the regular season, off until the highly-anticipated April 29 rematch with Jamesville-DeWitt.
Bad weather on Tuesday postponed Fayetteville-Manlius’ game with Rome Free Academy until Saturday, but it did get to play Thursday night against Liverpool, and perhaps erasing some past frustrations, the Hornets blasted the Warriors 19-4.
A wild first quarter saw Liverpool, who had not yet won a game in 2014, score all of its goals, but still trail 6-4. And F-M’s defense would shut things down from there, extending the lead to 11-4 by halftime and adding much more to it in the game’s latter stages.
Jack Wilson reached double digits in points, getting six goals and four assists. Casey Green scored four times, adding a pair of assists, while John Cote had three goals and one assist.
Colton Oliver and Luke Krizman both finished with two goals and one assist, with Alex Leuze getting a goal and two assists. Jack Kinsella got a goal and Chris Rettinger managed an assist.
F-M then rolled past RFA 15-3 on Saturday, going up 7-1 by the end of the first quarter and cruising from there, mostly thanks to Wilson, who piled up seven goals and one assist, and Cote, who had five goals and one assist.
Green put up a goal and three assists, while Andy Cummings and Erik Badger both finished with one goal and one assist. Krizman added a pair of assists.
Much earlier in the week, CBA endured rain and mud in last Monday’s game at Jordan-Elbridge, but still won its fourth game in a row, roaring past the Eagles 19-10.
Wind and rain combined to give J-E just the conditions it wanted against a CBA side accustomed to playing on clean turf fields. And after the Brothers took an early 3-0 lead, the Eagles roared back and tied it, 3-3, by the end of the first quarter.
But that would prove to be J-E’s high point. Fuming at that early lapse, the Brothers took over and outscored J-E 7-1 the rest of the half. As the conditions got worse, CBA maintained a steady pace in the second half thanks to a potent, diverse attack.
Andrew Romagnoli anchored the offense, this time getting three goals to go with his four assists, while Cameron Smith stepped up for a three-goal hat trick and Braedon Gait also scored three times.
Jack Zerillo closely followed with two goals and three assists, while Alex Calkins and Sam Martin took on larger roles, each scoring twice. Alex Brunner, Pete Dziergas and Robbi Grant had one goal apiece.
Matt Vavonese, taking a turn in goal in place of Andrew Koscs, made eight saves. Zach Wagner (four goals, one assist) and Sam Robles (three goals, one assist) led J-E’s efforts.
