Through the early portion of this season, the Westhill boys lacrosse team is continuing to prove itself as a major contender for OHSL Liberty and Section III Class C honors, and might end up the favorite, especially if it can topple defending champion Cazenovia on Tuesday night.
A comparison of how those two teams dealt with Homer last week proved quite telling. While Cazenovia struggled to prevail 8-7 last Tuesday, the Warriors, when it got its turn on Saturday, played close to a perfect game and hammered the Trojans 16-1.
Handling the face-offs and dominating on the defensive side, Westhill shut out Homer in the first half and steadily worked its way to a 9-0 lead. Only Dean Riley’s third-quarter goal broke up the shutout, but the Warriors kept pulling away.
Richie Easterly went to the forefront, scoring four times and adding four assists. He paced an attack where Ryan Zimmerman had four assists to go with his pair of goals as Casey Rogers, Joe Rainone, Mark Purcell and Andrew French notched two goals apiece. Hunter Waddington and Nick French had the other goals.
Up against a Class A opponent, Liverpool, last Tuesday afternoon, Westhill managed to take over the Warrior clash with a big second quarter, and held on the rest of the way for an 8-4 victory.
They were tied, 1-1, through one period, but for the rest of the half, Westhill kept Liverpool in a defensive mode, and turned those possessions into four unanswered goals.
Liverpool cut the deficit in half, to 6-4, entering the fourth quarter, but Westhill got a shutout in that last period, Dan O’Connell working his total to eight saves, and restored the margin.
Easterly, with three goals, and Rogers, with two goals and one assist, paced Westhill’s attack. Zimmerman added a pair of assists as Purcell, Andrew French and Nick French each scored once.
At Fulton two days later, the Warriors made it five in a row, handling the Red Raiders 16-4, largely because it roared out to a 13-2 halftime lead as Easterly, with two goals and four assists, and Zimmerman, with three goals and one assist, led the attack.
Rogers, Purcell and Andrew French also produced two-goal outings, with Luke McAnaney getting one goal and one assist. Nick French also got a goal, Jake Etoll contributing a pair of assists.
Marcellus hosted Auburn last Monday night and took its first defeat of the season, seeing a late lead slip away in a 15-13 defeat to the Maroons.
Much of the game was played on fast, even terms. The Mustangs led, 4-3, after one period, but every time it tried to get away in the game’s middle two periods, Auburn provided an answer.
Thus, it was still clinging to a 10-9 lead going to the final period, where its production remained steady, but Auburn still managed six goals to break in front for keeps, Brian Cunningham and Kaiden Tubbert leading the way as they each scored four times on the night and overcame 24 saves from Marcellus goalie Dan Cusick.
The Mustangs saw Ross Filtch also get four goals, adding two assists, while Matt Hutchings had three goals and two assists. Harrison Cox, Alex Leo, Tim O’Sullivan, Aaron Quisik, Sam Rice, Shane Rohe and Sam Lobello earned one goal apiece. Cox and Rohe each added assists.
Jordan-Elbridge routed Utica-Notre Dame 23-2 last Wednesday afternoon, ignoring the rain by scoring 12 goals in the first quarter and leading 17-1 by halftime.
Four different Eagles – Hunter Brunell, Sam Robles, Logan Schwarting and Zach Wagner – each finished with four goals and one assist. Dale Wagner added three goals and one assist, while Colby Falcone and Nate Town each got a goal and two assists. Jordan Gunnip and Jacob Schwarting picked up one goal apiece.
Three days later, the Eagles lost, 15-5, to General Brown. Only Wagner, with two goals and one assist, had multiple tallies as Robles, Dale Wagner and Lamatt Chisholm also found the net. Nick Hallinan had 13 saves. Cole Johnson (six goals, two assists) and Luke Rogers (five goals, two assists) accounted for most of the Lions’ production.
Bishop Ludden got into the win column Saturday by shutting out Vernon-Verona-Sherrill 12-0. Connor Smith did everything, from six goals to five assists, his passes often going to Mark Shattuck, who scored four times and assisted on four of Smith’s scoring plays. Lucas Scuarti had the other two goals, plus an assist, this following the Gaelic Knights’ 15-2 defeat to Tully two days earlier.
