Two regular-season meetings between the Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse boys lacrosse teams settled nothing. The third would decide everything – or at least who got to play for a couple of more days.
As the no. 4 and 5 seeds in the Section III Class A playoffs, the Warriors and Northstars face each other next Tuesday night at LHS Stadium.
Whichever team won would get the giant task of trying to knock off top seed West Genesee in next Thursday’s semifinal at Bragman Stadium, with the Wildcats motivated to send coaching legend Mike Messere off with another title to go with the 15 state and 30 sectional championships he’s already accumulated.
At least Liverpool entered the playoffs with a bit of momentum.
The Warriors went north to face Watertown last Tuesday afternoon. With the state Class B no. 20 rankings, the Cyclones were far from an easy mark, but Liverpool did an effective job on defense and prevailed 9-5.
Steadily, the Warriors build a 6-4 advantage by halftime. As it turned out, the slower tempo favored the visitors as Liverpool surrendered just one goal the rest of the way, Cole Zaferakis superb in the net as he turned away 15 of 21 hosts.
Cabry Hildmann helped in the getaway as he scored four times, with Ryan McGowan getting three goals and one assist. Kyle Caves had a goal and two assists as Jake Piseno earned two assists, with Lukas McIlroy getting a goal and Connor Jones contributing an assist.
A day later, the Warriors made another trip, this time east to face Rome Free Academy, and doubled its output while taking apart the Black Knights 18-3.
Improving to 10-6 overall, Liverpool saw Connor Jones emerge as a big threat with six goals, with Caves scoring four times. Jacob Fahey had two goals and two assists as Hildmann added two goals and one assist. Luke Ruggaber had a goal and two assists as McGowan, Piseno and Cade Clouthier also converted. Jacob Vacco and Andy Paganelli earned assists.
