In their own ways, the Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool girls lacrosse teams picked up a series of impressive victories during the school break.
C-NS tested itself last Tuesday night in a non-league game at Marcellus, and with a steady, productive effort, the Northstars defeated the Mustangs 15-9.
Even though Marcellus did find a fair amount of success against C-NS’s defense, with Ally Burrows scoring four times, it did not do so at the same rate as the Northstars, who steadily gained a 9-5 halftime lead and didn’t let the Mustangs get closer.
Meghan Duffy, Olivia Africa and Samantha Tortora each had three-goal hat tricks, with Duffy adding four assists and Africa and Tortora one assist apiece. Hanna Haven and Christie Hahn each got two goals, with Bryar Cummings adding one goal and one assist and Jessica Meneilly also finding the net. Bri Stahrr combined with Lauren Gilbert to make eight saves.
Then came Friday’s game against Baldwinsville at Onondaga Community College’s Murphy Field, and the Northstars, who face reigning state Class A champion West Genesee Tuesday night in Camillius, kept the Bees at an arm’s length all the way through, eventually prevailing by a 15-13 margin.
Following a 3-3 tie in the early stages, C-NS though it gained control late in the first half with four unanswered goals, two of them by Roberts, only to have B’ville close the gap in the waning minutes and make it 8-6 going into the break.
But after Taylor Gebhardt made it 8-7 early in the second half, C-NS put up another 4-0 run, this time with Cummings scoring twice in that spurt. But it took late goals from Roberts, Brenna Duffy and Jessica Meneilly to gain enough of a cushion to withstand Glory Johnson scoring three goals in the last two minutes on B’ville’s behalf.
Starting a stretch of three games in five days, Liverpool roared past the combined Syracuse city squad 15-4 last Tuesday night, much of the damage rendered in a first half where the Warriors jumped out to an 11-1 lead.
Julia Sardella finished with four goals and Jen Kershner added four goals, the passes often coming from Megan Fitzpatrick, who had four assists to go with her lone tally.
Maggie Tassone got a pair of goals, with Fitzpatrick, Kasi Cabrey, Veronica Brancato, Cassidy Hall, Maddie Guard and Maia Henry also scoring. Cabrey tacked on two assists as Taylor Fahey joined Hall and Kershner with single assists.
Hosting Auburn two days later, the Warriors roared past the Maroons 11-4, a steady effort where Liverpool worked its way to a 6-2 halftime advantage and kept on turning back all of Auburn’s attempts to make it interesting.
Cabrey, with three goals and two assists, paced the attack, with Fitzpatrick, Tassone and Sardella earning two goals apiece. Kershner and Fahey had the other goals.
In Saturday’s non-league game at East Syracuse Minoa, Liverpool went for a 5-1 mark, and again leaned on a strong defense to turn back the Spartans in a 9-5 decision.
The margin was built during a first half where the Warriors gained a 6-2 lead, with Cabrey, Sardella and Hall each working their way to two goals and Sardella adding a pair of assists. Tassone, Fahey and Krystyna Steno had one goal apiece.
To protect that lead, Liverpool’s defense consistently thwarted whatever ESM tried to establish, and pulled off several turnovers and deflections, all in front of Evangelista, who made seven saves.
Liverpool would be favored again Tuesday at Central Square before hosting Fayetteville-Manlius on Friday, with C-NS following the West Genesee showdown with a Saturday visit to Brighton.
