As it stood going into last Tuesday night’s game at Hyatt Stadium, the Westhill and Skaneateles boys lacrosse teams were working toward the top two seeds in the Section III Class D playoffs, possibly headed for a championship showdown a month from now.
If so, they have quite a first act to follow.
The undefeated, state Class D no. 1-ranked Warriors earned its 10th straight win by edging the state no. 6-ranked Lakers 11-10, not taking the lead until the fourth quarter and then hanging on in the final seconds.
With a 9-1 mark going into the game and fresh off an impressive April 22 home win over Fayetteville-Manlius, Skaneateles was bent on asserting itself as the local Class D favorites, and nearly got away from Westhill in the game’s early stages.
Pat Hackler scored twice in the game’s first three minutes. Goals by Reggie Buell and Patrick Major extended the Lakers’ lead to 4-0 and made the Warriors use a time-out late in the first quarter.
That seemed to settle Westhill down, as it got on the board with goals from Jack Miller and Andrew Hodgens before Hackler and Major countered in the second quarter, putting Skaneateles up 6-2.
Even when the Warriors cut the deficit to one late in the half, Hackler’s fourth goal with 1.3 seconds left restored the Lakers’ lead to 7-5, and the hosts maintained that margin through a tense third quarter.
But everything turned at the start of the final period. With his team down 9-7, Westhill’s Casey Rogers took the face-off, ran straight up the middle and fired a shot past Scott Oschner, It took all of six seconds.
Fired up by this sudden strike, the Warriors tied it less than a minute later on Hodgens’ third goal, and when Owen Matukas found the net with 9:43 left, Westhill had its first lead of the night.
Matukas struck again two minutes later, making it 11-9, but even with Rogers claiming five straight face-offs and the Warriors trying to run out the clock, the Lakers forced turnovers and, with 2:06 left, Hackler, with his fifth goal, cut the margin to one.
A penalty on that scoring play gave Skaneateles a man-up chance to tie it, but Westhill goalie Tim O’Connor intercepted a pass, and using both of its time-outs, the Warriors ran off most of the remaining clock and forced one more turnover when the Lakers tried to run down the field in the waning seconds.
The only problem for Westhill was that it had no time to enjoy this victory. Less than 48 hours later, in far warmer conditions, the weary Warriors had to face Christian Brothers Academy, whose no. 13 state Class D ranking reflected the tough schedule it had faced.
Unlike Westhill, the Brothers hadn’t played in six days, and it proved the far more energetic side on Thursday, making the big plays it needed to throughout the second half to hand the Warriors its first defeat of the season in a 9-6 decision.
Great at the outset, the Warriors led 3-0 late in the first quarter, yet did not score the rest of the half, thwarted by a revived CBA defense that closed off most lanes and steered things toward goalie Matt Vavonese, who would finish with 12 saves.
That energy spread to the other side of the field in the third quarter, when the Brothers scored three times in a span of less than 90 seconds as part of a 4-0 spurt to take the lead for good.
Westhill closed back within one, 7-6, in the fourth quarter, but CBA used long offensive possessions in the closing minutes and then, after a time-out, struck twice for goals less than a minute apart that put the game away.
Only Rogers, with three goals and one assist, scored more than once for the Warriors. Matukas and Jack Grooms each had one goal and one assist, with Charlie Bolesh getting the other goal. On the Brothers’ side, Alex Calkins (three goals) and Patrick O’Brien (two goals, three assists) led the attack as Mike Matteson also scored twice.
