When the Skaneateles boys lacrosse team returned from its spring-break road trip that included wins over Section II foes Colonie and Bethlehem, it found out that it had the no. 13 spot in the first state Class C rankings of the spring.
Whether the number was bad luck or not, the Lakers were not close to its top form in last Monday night’s game against Christian Brothers Academy at Hyatt Stadium, seeing things get away from them in the fourth quarter of a 15-8 defeat to the Brothers.
Some of the motivation for this game went beyond lacrosse for CBA, who had several players on the combined CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt ice hockey team that lost to Skaneateles in the state Division II semifinal a month ago as the Lakers eventually won its first state championship since 1989.
An active first quarter saw Skaneateles keep pace, but the Brothers broke out of the 4-4 tie by holding the Lakers to a single goal the rest of the half, gaining a 7-5 lead at the break.
Scoring activity picked up again in the third period, but that suited CBA, who built its margin to 11-8 and then proceeded to blank Skaneateles in the last 12 minutes, pulling clear with four unanswered goals.
Sam Duggan, with a three-goal hat trick, was the lone Laker to find the net more than once. Owen Kuhns had a goal and two assists as Devin Callahan, Jack VanSlyke, Patrick Major and Colin Foehl had the other goals. Combined, goalies Kyle Oschner and Francis Lombardi had 16 saves as Jack Jeschke paced CBA with five goals and five assists.
Two days later, the Lakers bounced back at Jordan-Elbridge, mostly relying on a sustained mid-game surge to defeat the Eagles by a 14-7 margin.
Entering the second quarter, J-E was tied, 2-2, but Skaneateles changed that in a hurry, outscoring the Eagles 6-1 the rest of the half and then tacking on a 4-1 third-quarter effort that would decide the outcome before the visitors relaxed in the late going.
Alex Dunn, kept quiet in the CBA game, roared here with a career-best five goals. Kuhns scored twice, adding three assists, while McGlynn and VanSlyke each got two goals and two assists. Callahan, Major and Jack Kimm had one goal apiece.
That was just the interlude before Saturday’s marquee match-up at Hyatt Stadium, the Lakers welcoming defending Section III Class A champion Fayetteville-Manlius and then using a big push down the stretch from Dunn and Kuhns to beat the Hornets 12-9.
Large graduation losses from last year’s side that reached the state Class A final had taken a toll on F-M, who had started 3-4, but Skaneateles wasn’t about to allow the Hornets (who blew a second-half lead in a 13-10 loss to Auburn two nights earlier) to find itself here.
Duggan got the Lakers going, earning the game’s first goal and, after F-M took a 3-1 lead, striking twice more to have a first-quarter hat trick before Dunn gave Skaneateles a 4-3 lead.
For the rest of the half, Skaneateles was contained, but the Hornets couldn’t take full advantage, only managing a 5-5 tie at the break because Dunn notched his second goal with 3:43 left in the second quarter.
But Dunn was just getting warmed up. During a third-quarter tour de force, Dunn hit on four consecutive goals to give him six of night, all of which were needed to help the Lakers seize a 9-6 lead, but it still wasn’t over.
Other than a goal from Kuhns, Skaneateles was kept quiet for much of the fourth quarter, and F-M pulled within one, 10-9. But the Lakers’ defense made several big stops down the stretch, Kyle Oschner working his total to seven saves, and Dunn earned a seventh goal, to go with Kuhns’ second (he also had four assists), to clinch it.
Passing the midway point of the regular season at 6-2, Skaneateles would visit once-beaten Westhill in a Monday-night showdown before taking on Homer Friday night.
