In a brutal season-opening stretch, the Marcellus boys lacrosse teams would take a trio of defeats, two of them to reigning Section III champions.
And that didn’t even include Baldwinsville, whom the Mustangs faced first last Tuesday and found itself done in by untimely scoring bursts by the Bees in an 11-5 defeat.
Sam Rice did score 55 seconds into the game to briefly put the Mustangs in front of B’ville 1-0, but Marcellus was shut out for the next 18-plus minutes, needing to play strong defense to stay close for most of the first half.
Only trailing 3-2 after Matt Chrysler’s goal midway through the second quarter, Marcellus saw the game get away when B’ville scored twice in nine seconds and followed it up with two goals in a 12-second span just before halftime.
Then it got more lopsided as the Mustangs were shut out in the third quarter. Another goal from Rice, plus two from Gabe VanOrder, could not make up that ground as Shane Rohe and Matt Connell got two assists apiece. Mike Trangredi (three goals), Ryan Gebhardt and Pete Fiorini (two goals, two assists apiece) led the Bees’ attack.
Cazenovia showed up on Thursday night, and the Mustangs nearly got shut out, only converting one time late in a 10-1 loss to the Lakers.
It wasn’t that Cazenovia required any single scoring spurt to take charge. Rather, it mixed in goals with a stifling defense that never allowed Marcellus much space to operate, and the result was a 7-0 halftime margin.
Not until the fourth quarter did Rice break up the shutout, scoring off a feed from Chrysler. Cusick finished with 11 saves, but had specific trouble dealing with Lakers forward Thomas Bragg, who netted four goals, nearly half his team’s output.
Then, after facing Cazenovia, Marcellus ended this tough opening week at Fayetteville-Manlius Saturday, trying to upend the reigning sectional Class A champions. And it played a solid second half, but only after a slow start ended any realistic hopes of victory as it fell to the Hornets 13-7.
All through the first half, the Mustangs found itself in a defensive mode, and F-M steadily converted until it owned a 9-2 advantage at the break, led by Luke Burnam, who had three goals as Donovan Welsh (two goals, three assists) and Mac Fish (one goal, three assists) helped out.
Marcellus started to find some inroads late in the game, Liam Tierney getting the most success thanks to his three-goal hat trick. VanOrder had two goals and one assist, with Nate Garlow getting a goal and three assists. Rohe added an assist.
Jordan-Elbridge improved to 2-0 on the season last Tuesday night by going to Utica Proctor and routing the Raiders 21-2, the effort led by Hunter Brunelle, who poured in six goals and added three assists. Dylan Dunham, with three goals and five assists, was close behind.
Colby Falcone scored four times, adding an assist, while Jacob Schwarting, Dale Wagner and Evan Brunelle each picked up two goals and two assists. Luke Pinckney also finished with two goals.
Bishop Ludden, who fell in overtime to J-E in its return to the varsity level on March 25, won three days later at Whitney Point. The 13-11 decision saw the Gaelic Knights steadily build a 12-7 lead through three quarters, enough to withstand the Eagles’ late comeback attempt.
Bailey Martin and Zach Delaney each scored four times, with Martin adding an assist. Dom Delvecchio finished with two goals and three assists as Ethan Gentile also found the net twice. Jacob Carter got the other goal and Mac Mulhern earned an assist. Chris Hurley was busy in the net, making 21 saves.
Then Ludden made it back-to-back wins on Thursday by topping Fulton 16-8. The Gaelic Knights actually trailed, 3-2, before a decisive second quarter where it blanked the Red Raiders and netted eight unanswered goals, dominating in the face-off circle and then converting.
Gentile and Delvecchio led the charge, each of them pouring in five goals. Just behind them, Martin and Zach Delaney both scored twice and both delivered a pair of assists as Mulhern earned a goal and two assists. Matt Delaney had the other goal. Hurley stopped 12 of the 20 shots he faced.
Going for three in a row on Saturday, Ludden achieved it by defeating Dryden 10-6, a game it gained control of in the middle stages as the Gaelic Knights outscored Dryden 7-2 in the second and third periods to break a 2-2 tie.
Matt Delaney, with five goals, accounted for half of Ludden’s output. Delvecchio, aside from his pair of goals, earned three assists. with Martin also scoring twice as Jacob Carter got the other goal And Gentile tacked on an assist.
