This Thursday night, the Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool boys lacrosse teams square off at Bragman Stadium, each of them hoping to claim supremacy in their long-standing neighborhood rivalry.
For the Northstars, it came at the end of a tough early-season stretch that included a visit from Fayetteville-Manlius two nights earlier and its first defeat of the season, taken last Thursday when it fell to West Genesee 8-5 at Bragman Stadium.
Meanwhile, the Warriors had faced its own tough test on Tuesday night when it hosted Baldwinsville – and that came in the wake of a rough trip to F-M last Thursday where everything went wrong in the middle stages of a 14-5 loss to the Hornets.
C-NS arrived at its latest tilt with the West Genesee dynasty sporting a 3-0 mark. The Wildcats had only played once, defeating Loyola Academy (Chicago) on April 2, and the Northstars hoped that having more game experience at this early point in the season would translate into success.
For a half, that did prove the case. Three different times, WG went in front, but every time C-NS answered, with goals by Brandon O’Brien and Dante Whitmire in the first quarter and by Nick Riccardi late in the second period.
A minute after Riccardi scored, Whitmire ripped home his second goal, and with strong defense from the likes of Jake Erickson and Matt Townsend (who stepped up more after Noah Gessini left with an injury) and stops by Hunter Dorgan, the Northstars led, 4-3, at halftime.
It only took nine seconds for everything to change, though.
Early in the third quarter, WG’s Tyler Shoults tied it, 4-4. Then, off the ensuing faceoff, reserve defender Tom Baker grabbed the ball out of the air, streaked up the middle of the field and didn’t stop until he had fired a shot past Dorgan that put the Wildcats ahead for good.
Other than Riccardi’s goal late in that same period, C-NS did not score at all in the second half, hurt by a series of turnovers that allowed WG to control the ball for long stretches.
Ryan McDonald gave the Wildcats a cushion with his goal in the last seconds of the third quarter, plus another tally with 10:25 to play, his third of the night. Dorgan stopped everything after that and had 16 saves overall, but it didn’t prove enough.
Some of Liverpool’s troubles could be attributed to F-M arriving at this game burning to get into the win column after one-goal defeats to Syracuse (5-4) and Marcellus (12-11) the week before, but even with that, the Warriors led, 1-0, after one period.
Then it all fell apart. Once F-M got on the board early in the second quarter, the attack found its rhythm and plundered the Warriors’ zone to the tune of a 12-1 that lasted until the end of the third period.
Donovan Welsh led the Hornets, scoring three times and adding four assists. Tyler Papa put together three goals and three assists, while Luke Burnam had a three-goal hat trick of his own. Dan Burnam and Mac Fish both scored twice.
On the Warriors’ side, only Antonio Rey managed to score twice. Dylan Wallace gained one goal and one assist, while Jon Jerman and Dan Salamino recorded single goals. Connor Prosser worked in goal and earned 10 saves.
