To most girls lacrosse teams in Central New York, the prospect of staying close to West Genesee, much less beating them, remains ridiculous and far-fetched – but not to Cicero-North Syracuse.
Trailing the Wildcats by four goals late in Tuesday night’s game in Camillus, the Northstars made it all the way back and won it, 12-11, when Hanna Haven pushed home the game-winning goal with just four seconds left.
“Any time you can come to West Genesee and come away with a victory, it’s a big, big thing,” said C-NS head coach Lloyd Hamilton. “This will give us confidence.”
The recent history between these two teams is not lopsided. The Northstars also beat West Genesee in the 2013 Section III Class A semifinals, though the Wildcats avenged that defeat by claiming last year’s sectional title and going on to claim a seventh state championship in program history.
What’s more, despite the major graduation losses it took from that state title team, WG had roared out to a 5-0 start, never trailing in wins over Baldwinsville, Penfield, Victor, Fayetteville-Manlius and Pittsford.
Immediately, C-NS showed that it would give the Wildcats trouble, grabbing a 4-1 lead as Meghan Duffy scored 13 seconds into the game, Haven followed up with a pair of goals and Bryar Cummings also found the net.
After taking a time-out, WG erased that deficit in less than three minutes, eventually leading 6-4 before back-to-back goals from Duffy and Samantha Tortora tied it again, 6-6, late in the first half.
When Grace Osterdale and Madisyn Kittell scored in the last 34 seconds of the half, WG seized the momentum and carried it over into the second half, threatening to pull away.
But after Kyra Bednardki’s goal made it 11-7 with 13:56 to play, the Wildcats would not score again. Mary Kate Bonanni, Lexxi Knoblock, Jenna Lippert, Mallory Eymer and the rest of the C-NS defense took away WG’s passing lanes, and Bri Stahrr worked her total to nine saves.
At the same time, C-NS put in three freshmen midfielders – Jessica Meneilly, Olivia Massena and Megan Tryniski – to give Haven, Cummings and Duffy a breather, and that move paid off.
Still trailing 11-8, the Northstars made up most of the ground when Meneilly and Stephanie Roberts scored 20 seconds apart, and with 3:46 left in regulation, Tortora waited for WG goalie Katherine Widrick to step out and challenge her before firing home the tying goal.
Stahrr and Widrick both made great saves in the last minute of regulation. C-NS got the ball back and, with 14.3 seconds left, called a time-out. Hamilton said the plan was to isolate Tortora on a defender and see what happened.
Tortora lost the ball, a wild scramble followed and Cummings took a shot that Widrick managed to block. Seeing the loose ball, Haven picked it up and, in one motion, fired it into the top of the net, delivering the game-winner.
Great as this win was for C-NS, the saga with West Genesee is far from over, since these same two sides meet again in exactly two weeks (April 28, to be exact) at Bragman Stadium.
