That April 23 defeat at Pittsford did not affect the Cazenovia boys lacrosse team all that much. It even stayed at no. 3 in the state Class C rankings.
What would change things, though, would be if the Lakers suffered further blemishes at the expense of someone like Marcellus or Skaneateles, who both would visit the Sean Googin Sports Complex late last week in advance of big games this week against Jamesville-DeWitt and Victor.
Of the two, Marcellus, riding a seven-game win streak and holding a no. 14 state Class C ranking, appeared to offer the bigger threat – but when they met Thursday night, a second-quarter surge by the Lakers proved the difference as it went on to cruise to a 14-7 victory over the Mustangs.
Neither side got off to a strong start, but Cazenovia weathered its struggles and still led, 2-1. What happened over the next 12 minutes was a clinical effort on the Lakers’ part where it won face-offs, attacked at will, scored when it needed and also made a series of big defensive stops.
That made it 6-1 going into intermission, and though Marcellus would find some success on the offensive end during the second half, Cazenovia would always answer it and extend its margin, led once more by Cole Willard, who scored five times and picked up two assists.
Continuing to carve out a larger role in the Lakers’ attack, Tom Bragg earned four goals, while Derek White passed out four assists. Alex Nowak and Will Shepard both scored twice and long-stick midfielder T.J. Connellan added a goal. Superb in the net, Brenden Whalen stopped 12 of the 19 shots he faced as, for Marcellus, Matt Hutchings (three goals, one assist) and Ross Filtch (one goal, four assists) led the way.
Two days later, Skaneateles took its turn, and got a whole lot closer to Cazenovia, but the hosts, all but carried by Willard on the offensive side, still held on to prevail 11-9 in this latest duel of Laker lacrosse powers.
It didn’t look to be close at the outset, Cazenovia bolting out to a 5-0 first-quarter lead. To its credit, Skaneateles clawed back and, by the third quarter, had moved within a single goal on two occasions, largely on the strength of a big effort from Reggie Buell, who scored six times, the most any opponent has done against Cazenovia this season.
Every time it was needed, though, the host Lakers made a clutch play, either from Willard, who kept on firing until he had amassed a season-best eight goals, or from Whalen, who was frequently tested but still came up with 16 saves.
Bragg was solid, too, gaining three goals and one assist, while Jake Lewis and Dylan Hahn each got two assists. Nowak and White also had assists.
Before all this, Cazenovia went to South Jefferson last Tuesday and eased past the Spartans 11-2, grabbing a 5-0 edge by the end of the first quarter and cruising the rest of the way with big games from Jake Lewis, who had five goals and two assists, and Bragg, who got two goals and four assists.
White scored three times, adding an assist. Shepard had the other goal as Willard was content in a supporting role, earning two assists. Nowak got one assist.
Chittenango returned to action Thursday and lost, 21-10, to Central Square, its defense unable to stop anything the Redhawks threw at them. The Bears’ deficit grew to 15-3 before it made a belated charge in the fourth quarter.
Duncan Smith still had five goals and one assist, with Jon Karbowniczak scoring three times. David Demand and Cooper Young earned the other goals as Ben Haarman earned an assist. Central Square had five different players – Austin Forte, Anthony Mandell, Nick Meyers, Brody Phillips and Kyle Robinson – each score three times, with Forte (five goals) and Mandell (four goals, one assist) setting the pace.
In Saturday’s 21-11 defeat to Cortland, the Bears were tied, 3-3, before the Purple Tigers outscored them 9-3 in the second quarter to get away, ultimately building a 17-6 margin by the time they reached the final period.
For the second game in a row, Smith scored five times, adding two assists as Demand added three goals. Young, Downer and Karbowniczak had one goal apiece. Cortland’s Chris Dovi and Brandon Ludwig each had five goals, with Dovi adding five assists to give him 10 points on the day.
