What the Liverpool boys lacrosse team hoped for was that the close wins gained over Cicero-North Syracuse and LaFayette during the school break would provide some confidence when confronted with that situation again.
And it didn’t take long for the Warriors to get entangled in another tight affair during last Tuesday’s game at Syracuse, where it led in the fourth quarter, only to surrender that edge and take a 10-9 defeat to the Cougars.
Going into the fourth quarter, Liverpool led 7-6, largely built on what it had done in the third period. A 5-1 run had helped erase what Syracuse had done to break out of a 2-2 tie, blanking the Warriors for the entire second quarter while gaining a 5-2 advantage.
Despite this, the Cougars fought back, tied the game at 9-9, and then inched in front on Connor Leonard’s goal with 2:35 left in regulation. Though there was plenty of time to force it to overtime, the Warriors could not do so.
Dylan Wallace had three goals and one assist, with Steve Audley getting two goals and one assist. Jake Piseno, whose 55-yard goal was a highlight of the win over LaFayette, joined Cabry Hildmann, Dan Salamino and Devin Dewane in earning single goals. Hildmann had two assists, with Salamino and Dewane getting one assist apiece.
Cole Zaferikas had a strong game in the net, recording 13 saves. But Syracuse netminder Robert Martin topped him with 18 saves as Leonard led with four goals and Matt Eccles got a goal and four assists.
Liverpool would find a lot more struggles against state Class A no. 6-ranked West Genesee on Thursday night. The Warriors lost, 11-4, and didn’t get on the scoreboard until the fourth quarter, by which point the Wildcats enjoyed a 10-0 advantage.
Four different players – Hildmann, Salamino, Audley and Connor Jones – had those four goals, with Ben Root joining Hildmann in earning assists. Zaferikas kept it from getting more lopsided with his 14 saves as Jay Considine (four goals) and Jack Howes (three goals, two assists) set the pace on WG’s side.
For its part, C-NS took the measure of defending Section III Class A champion Fayetteville-Manlius last Tuesday at Bragman Stadium. The Hornets had routed Liverpool the week before, but the Northstars made it a lot more difficult before taking an 8-5 defeat.
Controlling the game’s tempo, C-NS led 2-1 after one period, and remained in the fight even though F-M grabbed the lead by halftime. The difference was a third quarter where the Northstars did not get on the board and the Hornets stretched out its margin to7-3.
Basically, the game belonged to F-M attacker Donovan Welsh, who scored six times and assisted on his team’s other two goals, by James Rettinger and Ryan Cicci. By contrast, only Brian Rowe scored twice for C-NS, with Brody Guido getting one goal and one assist. Josh Pickard had a goal, but top scorer Justin Griffith was held to one assist.
Now the Northstars had to visit Baldwinsville on Thursday night. The Bees with three defeats in its last four games, needed a win – and got it by putting together a big second-quarter spurt to beat C-NS 15-8.
They were tied, 4-4, at the end of an active first quarter, but while B’ville’s defense settled down, its attack kept pouring through the Northstars’ defenses, eventually going on a 6-1 run for the rest of the half.
The attack was spread around, too, as Ryan Gebhardt, Cole Peters and Spencer Wirtheim each notched three-goal hat tricks and got assists, too. Gebhardt managed two assists as Pete Fiorini earned a goal and four assists.
Rowe continued to lead the C-NS attack, finishing with three goals and one assist. Tommy Flynn had two goals and one assist, while Pickard, Joel Firth and Austin VanDewalker had one goal apiece. Griffith again managed just a single assist as goalie Brian Jobin recorded 13 saves.
After all this, C-NS hosted Colonie (Section II) on Saturday and routed the Garnet Raiders 20-3. building up a 13-2 edge by halftime as VanDewalker had a season-best five goals and one assist, with Pickard adding four goals and one assist.
Guido earned his first three-goal hat trick as Rowe and Firth each had two goals and one assist. Griffith got three assists as Flynn and Aiden Longley both had one goal and one assist. Chase Casler and Sutter Donegan had the other goals. Jon Abbott contributed an assist.
Liverpool, meanwhile, had yet another OT game, but won it, taking two extra periods to beat Rochester McQuaid (Section V) 12-11after the Knights slowly caught up in the second half, erasing the Warriors’ 6-4 lead at intermission, yet not getting in front, thwarted often by Zaferikas, who made 15 saves overall.
Here, it was Audley at the forefront with three goals and four assists as Hildmann also scored three times, adding two assists. Salamino had two goals and one assist as Kyle Caves got a goal and three assists. Wallace had one goal and one assist. Piseno and Root had the other goals.
