One thing had not changed all season for the Cicero-North Syracuse boys lacrosse team. Regardless of the opponent or circumstances, the Northstars would always find itself in tense, low-scoring battles.

That tendency can have a short shelf life, and for C-NS, that meant an early exit from the Section III Class A playoffs as it lost, 6-5, to the Syracuse Cougars in Tuesday night’s Class A quarterfinal.

C-NS was the no. 5 seed, going on the road despite Syracuse’s 7-8 record. They had met twice in the span of a week in April, splitting those games as the Northstars squeaked out a 4-3 win before the Cougars took the rematch 9-7 at Bragman Stadium.

Now, on the Corcoran High School turf, with a chance to play at home in the semifinals against top seed Baldwinsville, C-NS grabbed a 2-1 lead through one period, but could not hold on to it.

Syracuse had its lone run just before halftime, inching in front 4-3, and the rest of the game amounted to a standoff, which suited the Cougars just fine because it exactly matched the lone goal C-NS would manage in each of the last two periods.

Those five Northstars goals came from five different players – Dante Whitmire, Brandon O’Brien, Nick Riccardi, Nate Scarlata and Josh Pickard – while Brian Rowe contributed an assist. Hunter Donigan finished well in the net, stopping nine of the 15 shots he faced.

Still, Syracuse won because Matt Eccles carried the attack, scoring four goals and assisting on the other two, by John Elliot and Sterling Claflin. Elliott assisted on two Matt Eccles’ goals and and Ryan Eccles got an assist in front of goalie Yoendri Alonso, who also made nine saves.

So as Syracuse met B’ville and West Genesee played Fayetteville-Manlius in Thursday night’s semifinals, the Northstars were mere spectators, but already plotting for a far better result in 2017.