What started early on a wet Thursday evening at Bragman Stadium between the Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool girls lacrosse teams did not end until nearly three hours had passed.
And by the time the horn had sounded, it was late at night –but the Northstars didn’t mind any possible lost sleep because it had handed the Warriors its first defeat of the season by a score of 9-7.
Liverpool had roared to a 5-0 start, but had faced a far easier schedule than C-NS, who was 2-2 and had taken defeats to South Jefferson and Fayetteville-Manlius.
When things got underway, the Northstars got the tempo it wanted, slowing things down enough so that Liverpool could not get comfortable. That, plus some timely conversions, allowed C-NS to establish a 5-3 lead by intermission.
Only that proved to be a short break compared to what happened early in the second half.
With the Northstars now in front 7-4, lightning was spotted in the area, leading to a 30-minute delay that ended up three times as long as the flashes continued at intermittent points.
Thus, when it was finally safe to continue, it was almost like the game was starting over. Given its cushion, C-NS could afford long possessions and that, combined with fine defense from Jessica Foley, Delaney Stahrr, Sarah Klein and Allison Bartlett, allowed it to protect the lead, with Kaitlyn Lippert recording seven saves.
On the other side, Makena Scarlata and Jessica Meneilly both had three-goal hat tricks, with Brenna Duffy getting a goal and three assists. Megan Tryniski and Francesca Tortora each had one goal and one assist as Molly Malchanoff also had an assist.
Liverpool’s main problem was that, other than Bella Brancato’s four goals, no one else could produce much. Abby Hope had one goal and one assist as Colleen Tifft and Brittany Halpin had the other goals.
These two sides had very different lead-ups to the game, with Liverpool easily working past Rome Free Academy 18-5 last Tuesday night as C-NS traveled to F-M and lost, 14-9, to the Hornets.
F-M had routed its first three opponents, but while C-NS made it tougher for them, especially in the second half, that came after the Hornets had worked its way to a 7-3 halftime lead.
Meneilly would burn F-M for five goals, while Scarlata scored twice. Tryniski and Tortora had one goal apiece as Duffy got two assists and Olivia Massena a single assist.
Defensively, C-NS did contain F-M stars Gemma Addonizio and Kiera Shanley, holding them without a goal. Other Hornets made up for it, though, especially Amanda Cramer, who had five goals and one assist, and Katie Shanley, who scored four times.
Meanwhile, at RFA Stadium, Liverpool was relentless, sprinting out to a 10-2 halftime edge as Brancato and Emily Salanger led the way, Brancato netting five goals and tacking on an assist as Salanger had three goals and three assists.
Abby Hope also scored three times, plus an assist, as Tifft and Maia Henry both had two goals and one assist. Halpin had a goal and three assists as Kendra Hall and Jenna Irwin also converted, Hall and Kate Salanger tacking on assists.
