It took until the 11th game of the season for the Fayetteville-Manlius girls lacrosse team to suffer its first defeat, but only two more days before it dealt with another one.
Having claimed the no. 4 spot in the first state Class B rankings of the season, the Hornets hosted Baldwinsville last Tuesday night and could not hold a late lead in regulation before falling to the Bees 14-13.
These teams had met April 12 at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium and F-M had pulled it out 16-13, but B’ville had won six in a row since that game and had moved to no. 11 in the state Class A poll.
So the Bees didn’t get rattled when F-M seized a 7-5 halftime lead, and kept its poise even as the Hornets doubled that margin to 10-6 at one point in the second half.
Then the Bees won draws and the gap closed, with B’ville ultimately catching up, 13-13, near the end of regulation. Even after F-M claimed the draw in the extra period, the Bees forced a a turnover and then attacking hard.
Ultimately, the ball came to Maria Henwood, who took a pass from Katie Pascale and put in the game-winning goal with 1:53 left in the OT. It was Henwood’s second goal of the night as Fleming and Sara Goodwin had four goals apiece, with Fleming adding three assists.
In defeat, F-M got five goals from Gemma Addonizio, while Amanda Cramer had three goals and two assists. Kiera Shanley managed three assists as Annie Steigerwald and Maddie Noel had two goals apiece. Katie Shanley had one goal and one assist.
Tough as this was, the 8-7 loss F-M took to Liverpool on Thursday may have hurt more, since the Warriors entered the game with a modest 6-5 record and had lost big to the Hornets 19-10 at LHS Stadium two weeks earlier.
Here, though, Liverpool kept the tempo modest, played F-M to a 5-5 halftime tie and then edged out in front late, doing an effective job of possessing the ball and protecting that slim advantage.
Only Cramer and Addonizio scored twice for the Hornets, with single goals going to Steigerwald and the Shanley sisters. Bella Brancato got three goals for the Warriors as Brittany Halpin and Jenna Irwin had two goals apiece.
Up against reigning state Class A champion Pittsford on Saturday, F-M lost again, putting up a great effort, but falling 10-7 to the Panthers. Katie Shanley scored three goals and assisted on Kiera Shanley’s three tallies as Cramer got one goal and one assist. Mauwa Aombe earned eight saves.
Once mired at 2-5, the F-M boys lacrosse team zoomed above the .500 mark by the first day of May by winning five times in a span of eight days.The Hornets began its climb on April 28, winning at Christian Brothers Academy.
Then F-M made up the snowed-out April 5 game with Westhill last Monday night and topped the Warriors 11-8. From a 1-1 first-quarter tie, F-M outscored Westhill 6-3 over the course of the next two periods, taking the lead for good.
Nick Papa, with three goals and one assist, and Jack Shanley, with two goals and two assists, led a well-balanced Hornets attack. Chris Lubrino and Tommy Farry both scored twice.
Brandon Leuze and Kyle Gilroy each had one goal, with Sam DiChristina getting an assist. Owen Matukas led Westhill with two goals and three assists, but Hornets goalies Ben Hammond and Jack Van Valkenburgh combined for 14 saves.
Just 24 hours later, F-M hosted Liverpool, and got off to a rough start, but recovered by halftime and did just enough late to hold off the Warriors 8-7.
Liverpool bolted to a 3-0 lead by the end of the first quarter, only to have the Hornets shut them out the rest of the half and charge to a 5-3 advantage.
By the fourth quarter, it was 7-6, and though F-M only scored once in those last 12 minutes, it was just enough, the defense keeping the Warriors in check other than Cabry Hildmann’s five-goal effort.
Lubrino had three goals and one assist, with Shanley and Zach Nestor each scoring twice as Shanley also got a pair of assists. Brian Jones had the other goal, with Hammond and Van Valkenburgh earning 11 saves between them.
F-M then beat Cicero-North Syracuse 11-5 on Thursday, steadily building a 7-3 advantage by halftime and then surviving a third-quarter shutout by keeping the Northstars off the board, too.
Papa had three goals, with Lubrino, Shanley and Farry getting two goals apiece. Aidan Welling also had a goal as assists went to Brian Jones and Logan Wilkinson.
When F-M played Pittsford on Saturday, it still had enough in reserve to beat the Panthers 8-6. Up 3-0 early, the Hornets squandered that advantage, Pittsford tying it 4-4 by halftime.
But with a 3-1 push through the third quarter, the Hornets went in front for good, led by Papa’s three goals and two assists as Shanley also scored three times. Lubrino had the other two goals as Hammond and Van Valkenburgh stopped 16 of Pittsford’s 22 shots.
