It turns out that the Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool girls lacrosse teams are not done with each other.
After a pair of tense, closely-fought regular-season games that went in the Northstars’ favor, the two rivals will meet, as the no. 4 and 5 seeds, in next Tuesday’s opening round of the Section III Class A playoffs at Bragman Stadium.
The reward would be a chance to face top seed West Genesee in the May 24 semifinal at Fayetteville-Manlius, where the other semifinal will pit no. 2 seed and defending champion CBA against Baldwinsville or Rome Free Academy.
C-NS, no. 20 in the state Class A rankings, has a bit of momentum thanks to holding off reigning state Class D champion Skaneateles 8-7 on Wednesday night.
Even without 2017 National Player of the Year Kyla Sears (now at Princeton), Skaneateles was still a solid team full of skill, something that the Northstars would neutralize, for the most part, holding top scorer Riley Brogan to one goal and one assist.
Out of a 3-3 halftime tie, C-NS inched in front and stayed there with three goals from Brenna Duffy as Jessica Meneilly and Makena Scarlata had two goals apiece. Olivia Massena had the other goal and Kaitlyn Lippert had seven saves.
A night earlier, Liverpool honored its seniors before it faced B’ville, and great as it was, a win over the Bees would have made things perfect, but it didn’t quite happen as it lost, 10-9.
Both teams had some urgency going into the game. For Liverpool, it offered a chance at getting even after losing 9-5 to B’ville a month earlier at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium.
Despite a no. 6 state ranking, B’ville faced the prospect of dropping three of its last four games after a long win streak that bridged April and May.
The first half went back and forth, neither side able to get away or make a sustained run. So it went 6-6 to the second half where the pace slowed and it remained tight.
Up 9-8 with the clock winding down, B’ville saw Liverpool pull back even when Brittany Halpin converted her fourth goal of the night with 1:30 left. Halpin, with Bella Brancato (three goals), had accounted for most of the Warriors’ production as Maia Henry and Jenna Irwin had one goal apiece.
But with 21.6 seconds to play, the Bees worked the ball to Pascale, who fired it into the net, her lone goal of the evening after Hannah Johnson and Sara Goodwin had both scored three times, with Peyton Fleming getting a goal and three assists.
Right after this, Liverpool took on South Jefferson, newly ascended to the top spot in the state Class D rankings, and the Spartans proving that wasn’t idle consideration as it beat the Warriors 15-4.
Never able to keep pace with a talented and much fresher opponent, Liverpool had Brancato net two goals, with the others going to Henry and Abby Hope, who also earned assists. Six different South Jefferson players scored at least twice, with Savannah Fish, Molly Hall and Megan Whitley getting three goals apiece.
