Late last week, the Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool girls lacrosse teams got some much-needed rest, a full week to get itself repaired and ready for the onset of the Section III Class A playoffs.
They got to the sectional tournament in different ways, as last Tuesday night C-NS went on the road and got a 12-7 victory over Baldwinsville and Liverpool, at home, could not cool down red-hot West Genesee in a 19-6 defeat.
The Northstars’s game with the Bees was nearly identical to the 14-7 win over B’ville April 27 at Bragman Stadium. During the first half, C-NS, with its tight defense, shut things down for long stretches.
Down 7-2 at the break, the Bees tried to rally behind Peyton Fleming and Sara Goodwin, who each got two goals and one assist. Maria Henwood also scored twice as Katie Pascale had one goal and one assist and Hannah Johnson added an assist.
For C-NS, the key to victory was maintaining an attack that put an emphasis on shooting accuracy. Megan Tryniski, with four goals and one assist, paced the Northstars as Jessica Meneilly and Makena Scarlata got three goals apiece. Brenna Duffy added a goal and two assists. Julia Alberici had a goal as Olivia Africa and Olivia Massena earned assists.
Liverpool, who had lost to West Genesee 17-4 in late April, found the rematch against a Wildcats side that had risen to no. 6 in the state Class A rankings and sported a seven-game win streak just as difficult. ‘
WG scored the game’s first six goals, two each by Mackenzie Baker and Ally Trice. Liverpool did answer with back-to-back tallies to make it 6-2, but that was as close as it would get as, steadily, the Wildcats extended the margin to 11-3 by halftime.
By game’s end, only Brittany Halpin had scored twice for the Warriors, with Bella Brancato, Colleen Tifft, Lexi Emmi and Krystyna Sterio earning one goal apiece. Megan Fitzpatrick added an assist as Marissa Madonna and Maggie Bradley combined for 12 saves. Baker led WG with six goals and two assits, with Trice scoring four times.
When the sectional playoff pairings came out, C-NS found out it had the no. 3 seed and would meet Rome Free Academy Tuesday with the winner to get a semifinal against no. 2 seed CBA, while Liverpool, the no. 5 seed, awaited a showdown with B’ville, the no. 4 seed, with the winner to get top seed West Genesee in the semifinals.
