When the Cazenovia boys lacrosse team finallly got to play true home games at the Sean Googin Sports Complex, it made sure those games were memorable, particularly Friday night’s come-from-behind, 10-9 overtime victory over the Westhill Warriors.
So many aspects of this game were extraordinary, from the fact that the state Class C no. 3-ranked Lakers trailed the no. 4-ranked Warriors by five goals in the third quarter to the defensive adjustments made to turn things around, along with timely scoring plays that carried their own level of excitement.
Above all, the win concluded a stretch where Cazenovia played eight games in 14 days and won them all, beating the likes of West Genesee, CBA and Skaneateles along the way. Head coach Jim Longo said his players faced more mental than physical fatigue from all the challenges, but it didn’t stop them from a clean sweep of this particularly brutal gauntlet.
Fittingly, it ended against Westhill, the same team Cazenovia beat 7-6 in triple overtime in an April 14 epic that still burned in the Warriors’ minds as it wanted payback – and for a long while, it sure looked like payback would take place.
During a back-and-forth first half, Westhill attacker Casey Rogers continually flashed open – and continually converted, four goals in all, giving the Warriors a 5-3 edge at one point.
Trailing, 5-4, at halftime, things got a lot worse for the Lakers early in the third quarter when Rogers, Richie Easterly, Ryan Zimmerman and Matt McAnaney all hit on goals, making it 9-4 and forcing Longo to use a time-out.
Here, a key change on defense was made. Kevin Frega matched up with Rogers, and would shut him down, that energy feeding to the rest of the Cazenovia defense, who would not allow a goal in the last 23-plus minutes of the game.
Meanwhile, back-to-back goals from Jake Stowell and Alex Hunt right after the time-out helped Cazenovia regain the momentum. Then, in the last 14 seconds of the third quarter, Cole Willard converted, T.J. Connellan made a perfect strip of the ball and then fed it to Derek White, who beat Dan O’Connell for the goal less than a second before the horn.
All of a sudden, the five-goal deficit was down to one, and through a tense fourth quarter Cazenovia probed and waited until, with 1:50 left, Hunt netted the tying goal.
Going to overtime at 9-9, the Lakers’ first chance to win it got thwarted when Willard flung a shot off the post. But with 34.2 seconds left in the OT period, Willard got a second chance – and he didn’t miss, delivering the game-winner.
Two nights earlier, fresh off that big 9-5 win at previously unbeaten West Genesee, Cazenovia came home and beat Skaneateles 12-5, and just like it would with Westhill, it would turn in the second half against the same Laker side Cazenovia had to score two late goals to beat 8-6 early in April.
For much of the first two periods, Skaneateles kept the hosts in check, fighting its way to a 4-3 lead. But then Willard and P.J. Brown scored late in the first half, Brown’s goal coming 14.8 seconds before halftime, and all of the hard work of Skaneateles was undone.
Instead of a deficit, Cazenovia led, 5-4, and with all of the momentum, it proceeded to belt the visitors in a 4-0 third quarter, and Skaneateles never recovered.
Willard, all by himself, outscored Skaneateles and finished with a season-best seven goals. Brown scored four times, adding an assist, while Lewis had one goal and one assist. Stowell and White earned assists as Brenden Whalen, superb in the second half, recorded 12 saves.
Cazenovia’s players got a much-deserved weekend off in the wake of the latest Westhill epic, but things pick up again next Thursday when the Lakers host CBA, whom it beat 11-7 April 21 at Alibrandi Stadium, right in the middle of this epochal mid-season surge.
