It had not proven to be too easy for the Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool boys lacrosse teams as they trudged through the last full week of the regular season.
The Northstars hosted Baldwinsville last Tuesday night, catching the Bees at just the wrong time as it could not overcome a quiet first half in an 11-8 defeat.
These teams had met in a near-blizzard on April 19, and B’ville won it 9-6. Now, though, the Bees were coming off back-to-back defeats to West Genesee and Victor, and did not want a third straight loss.
To that end, B’ville clamped down hard throughout the first half, overcoming its own inconsistent attack with a defense that held C-NS to a single goal.
During the third period, the Northstars’ attack came to life. Joel Firth, Austin VanDewalker and Brody Guido would each score twice as Josh Pickard and Nate Scarlata got single goals.
Yet B’ville, seeing its lead cut to 8-6, would regain control late and overcome Brian Jobin’s 13 saves as Pete Fiorini and Austin Bolton each got three goals and two assists, with Cole Peters and Adam Davis scoring twice and goalie J.J. Johnson stopping 12 of 20 shots he faced.
Liverpool would get its turn against B’ville on Thursday – but only after a futile trip to West Genesee that saw the Warriors get overwhelmed for the second time this season by the Wildcats in a 13-5 defeat.
All game long, Liverpool had little possession time, which helped WG steadily build its margin, especially the duo of Jack Howes and John Bergan, who each got four goals as Howes added an assist.
Connor Jones did give the Warriors a pair of goals, with Lukas McIlroy adding two assists. Ben Root, Cabry Hildmann and Kyle Caves had one goal apiece. Cole Zaferakis finished with nine saves.
As it turned out, Liverpool played much better against B’ville than it did at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium in late April, but still came up short in a 16-11 defeat to the Bees.
The problem was that the Warriors, again, struggled at the outset, its deficit growing to 11-5 at halftime before it really got settled as, for B’ville, Peters had five goals and one assist, with Fiorini scoring three times.
Eventually, Root would net four goals and Caves got three assists to go with his pair of tallies. Hildmann also scored twice as Ryan McGown had a goal and two assists. Jacob Fahey had one goal and one assist and defender Jake Piseno added a goal.
C-NS had to wait until Friday to officially secure a Section III Class A playoff berth, completing a regular-season sweep of Syracuse when it defeated the Cougars 15-11 at Corcoran High School.
Yet even this required a comeback, the Northstars trailing 4-2 after one period, but catching up by halftime and then outscoring Syracuse 6-3 in the third quarter to move in front for good.
Scarlata had a season-best total of six goals, adding an assist. VanDewalker added three goals and three assists, with Justin Griffith scoring twice and getting four assists. Guido and Joel Firth had two goals apiece as Jobin made 11 saves.
