Whatever else the Skaneateles boys lacrosse team wants to do in 2015, it knows that the path to ultimate glory goes through those other Lakers from Cazenovia.
So when the two sides clashed last Thursday night at Hyatt Stadium, Skaneateles put together a determined, all-out effort and did a lot of things right, yet still saw the game slip from its grasp in the final seconds of an 8-6 defeat.
Skaneateles had a game under its belts, having beaten Auburn on March 27. Cazenovia, meanwhile, was playing its season opener, and had plenty of problems establishing its rhythm on the offensive end.
Meanwhile, Skaneateles applied the pressure from the outset, grabbing a 2-0 lead on first-period goals from Owen Kuhns and Alex Dunn. And it kept getting chances thanks to Kuhn dominating the face-off circle and Cazenovia proving too aggressive, leading to a series of penalties.
Though Skaneateles didn’t convert in a two-minute man-up situation early in the second quarter after Cullen McGlynn’s goal made it 3-1, it did keep pushing, and when Dunn scored again with 2:20 left in the half, the margin stretched to 4-1.
That would prove the largest Skaneateles lead of the evening. Peter Burr cut Cazenovia’s deficit to 4-2 right before the break, and that momentum carried over into the third quarter, on both ends of the field.
Quick back-to-back goals by Alex Hunt tied it, and Cole Willard’s tally gave Cazenovia its first lead at 5-4, which held up for the rest of the period. And it happened despite Skaneateles owning most of the possession, putting up wave after wave of attack, but getting turned back as Cazenovia goalie Brenden Whalen stopped all eight shots he faced in that period.
But it wasn’t over, even after Jake Stowell’s goal extended Cazenovia’s lead to 6-4 early in the fourth quarter. Skaneateles stayed patient, and then, midway through the period, Alex Duggan and Jack Van Slyke scored 38 seconds apart to tie it again, 6-6.
Then, after killing off another Skaneateles man-up situation, Cazenovia got the ball back and, through the last five minutes of regulation, worked the ball around, giving itself multiple chances to take the lead.
Skaneateles resisted, blocking shots and seeing others zip wide of the target. But with 20.5 seconds left, Stowell, working from the top of the circle, took a deft pass from P.J. Brown, leaped up to catch it in his stick, and then fired a bounce shot past Skaneateles goalie Kyle Oschner.
Having seen Skaneateles win draws all night, Cazenovia finally got one when it counted most, allowing it to run out the remaining clock, though Willard tacked on an insurance goal with 7.1 seconds to play.
At 1-1 on the young season, Skaneateles has road games late next week against Section II foes Colonie on Thursday and Bethlehem on Saturday, the latter of which takes place on the turf at Herkimer County Community College.
