If the unofficial title of best boys lacrosse team in Central New York was on the line Tuesday night, the Cazenovia Lakers seized it.
Getting another spectacular performance from senior attacker Cole Willard to go with a steady, strong effort on the defensive end, the state Class C no. 3-ranked Lakers gave Jamesville-DeWitt its first defeat of the season by a 9-6 margin on the Red Rams’ home turf.
Aside from symbolic stakes, Cazenovia also wanted to avenge last season’s 7-6 overtime defeat to J-D, who through its 10-0 start had risen to the top of the state Class B rankings.
“We’ve had some great battles with J-D through the years,” said Willard. “So we wanted this one a little bit more.”
And the Lakers didn’t let that desire get thwarted by the way things started. Andrew Barclay put the Rams on the board just 18 seconds into the game, and two minutes later defender Sam Mueller made a long run from the middle of the field and beat Brenden Whalen to make it 2-0.
Soon enough, Willard would assert his will on J-D. Having missed on a series of shots in the opening minutes, Willard atoned by earning a hat trick before the first quarter was done, and Jake Lewis converted early in the second period to put his Lakers up 4-2.
But Cazenovia was shut out the rest of the half, which was marked by penalties and missed opportunities on both sides. J-D didn’t have a goal for exactly 15 minutes, yet still pulled even, 4-4, by halftime with goals late in the second quarter from Barclay and Ryan Archer.
Still, that long drought illustrated the effective work of Cazenovia’s entire defensive unit. T.J. Connellan, Adam Race, Jake Shaffner and Chris Becker led a back line that kept two of the Rams’ top scorers, Grayson Burns and Griffin Cook, from netting a goal all night.
“We’ve been waiting for our defense to step up, and tonight they took a step forward,” said Cazenovia head coach Jim Longo.
Yet the Lakers still needed more production – and got plenty of it from Willard in a decisive stretch of the third quarter.
It was Willard’s fourth goal, at the 3:34 mark of the period, that pushed Cazenovia ahead for good, but he didn’t stop there, adding two more goals within the next 68 seconds to give him six for the night.
“I just tried to get open shots,” said Willard, but Longo put it another way during the week of the Kentucky Derby.
“When you’ve got a racehorse like him, you ride him,” said Longo.
And that got the Lakers to the fourth quarter, where it twice answered when J-D cut the gap to two. Alex Nowak scored with 7:38 left, and Lewis added an insurance goal with 3:08 to play.
Even with a win this satisfying, Willard said that the Lakers are far from content, with another run at Section III and state honors looming.
“We still have a lot more to do,” said Willard. “But we’re getting there.”
