Now the East Syracuse Minoa boys lacrosse team is in new territory – a place it doesn’t mind exploring further.
The Spartans, for the first time, are back-to-back Section III Class B champions, having turned back Auburn for the second consecutive year in Wednesday’s title game at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium.
Unlike the 2017 final, though, it didn’t require extensive defensive heroics and any last-second nerves – just a complete, start-to-finish effort on both ends as ESM defeated the Maroons 17-9.
Lance Madonna, who had four goals and two assists, said this title was more satisfying than last season’s because of the way the Spartans grabbed control from the outset and maintained it all game long.
These sides knew each other’s tendencies quite well, since it was the fourth meeting between ESM and Auburn in 12 months. Aside from last year’s sectional final, they played twice in the regular season, the Maroons prevailing 14-10 on April 12 at Holland Stadium, the Spartans winning 14-5 at home three weeks later.
Luke Rosaschi got ESM going with assists on goals by Gavin Houghtaling and Derrek Madonna in the first two minutes. Then Lance Madonna worked his way open and hit on consecutive goals 26 seconds apart midway through the opening period.
Rosaschi added a goal a few minutes later and the Spartans led, 5-2, through one quarter, setting a pace the Maroons would find too difficult to equal.
Even when Auburn did contain things for a while in a second quarter, ESM possessed the ball and could afford to wait. Houghtaling and Jackson Palumb both hit goals, and the Spartans went to the break holding a 7-3 edge.
A tribute to ESM’s effort was the way the second half started. After a long scramble for the faceoff, defender Michael Cox came up with it and triggered a fast break that Tim Crouse finished off just 24 seconds into the third quarter.
Each time Auburn threatened a bit, the Spartans responded, especially in a 79-second stretch where it scored three times to double its margin to 11-5.
Two young attackers led the way. Houghtaling, a freshman, poured in five goals and added three assists, while Lance Madonna, a sophomore, got four goals and two assists.
Between them, Houghtaling, Madonna, Palumb and Crouse accounted for all of ESM’s scoring in the fourth quarter as another championship was put away. Crouse had a three-goal hat trick as Rosaschi had two assists to go with his pair of goals.
On Saturday at 3 p.m. at Bragman Stadium, ESM meets Vestal (Section IV) in the Class B regional final, trying to avenge last year’s defeat to the Golden Bears in this same round.
