Up to now, all the East Syracuse Minoa boys lacrosse team had done was equal what it had done in 2017, in terms of earning a Section III Class B championship. But it wanted much more.
To get it, the Spartans would have to avenge last year’s 13-9 defeat to Section IV’s Vestal in Saturday’s regional final at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium – and it got that payback.
With a big third quarter after a tightly-contested first half, ESM defeated the Golden Bears 17-10 and earned a return trip to C-NS next Wednesday for the state semifinal against Section V powerhouse Victor.
Neither side could control matters, or stop each other, during the first quarter. A pair of Tim Crouse goals and a long run to the net converted by Gannon Abreu was answered by Vestal getting an early hat trick from Matt Thrasher.
Even with Lance Madonna converting, ESM found itself down 5-4 at the end of the period after Thrasher’s fourth goal in the waning seconds a man up.
Lance and Derrek Madonna both struck for goals early in the second quarter, with Gavin Houghtaling also finding the net after his five-goal effort in the sectional final against Auburn.
Yet neither team could make any sustained run. The first half had seven different ties and no one leading by more than one, fittingly ending 7-7 with everything left to decide.
Only in the third quarter did the Spartans get the cushion it needed, with a second goal by Houghtaling putting them ahead for good and more to follow from Abreu, Alex Recor and Alex Caramanna that gave ESM an 11-7 advantage.
Vestal never could recover from that timely surge. Dan Boland kept gaining face-offs, and the Spartans’ constant attacks led to plenty of scoring chances. When Houghtaling and Recor scored 14 seconds apart late in the period, ESM had a 14-9 edge.
By outscoring the Golden Bears 7-2 in that third quarter, the Spartans effectively won this game, though Houghtaling would add two more goals in the fourth quarter to give him five for the game and Luke Rosaschi worked his total to five assists.
Earlier that day at C-NS, the dreams of back-to-back state titles for Christian Brothers Academy came to a painful conclusion with a 9-8 overtime defeat to Section IV’s Chenango Forks in the Class D regional final.
What made it more difficult to take was the way the Brothers fought back after a slow start where it was shut out in the first quarter and the Blue Devils jumped out to a 3-0 lead.
It took more than 16 minutes of game time for CBA to get on the board – but when it did, with Patrick O’Brien’s goal, more followed as Colin Kelly, Mike Adornato and Wyatt Auyer all found the net before the half ended.
Now it was CBA’s defense in a stingy mood, keeping Forks off the board for 19-plus minutes as it appeared to get away.
Ryan Mackenzie converted early in the period. O’Brien got a second goal, and when Auyer and Adornato scored eight seconds apart, the Brothers had an 8-4 advantage with four minutes left in the third quarter.
And CBA would not score again.
Forks applied plenty of pressure, moved within 8-5 going to the fourth quarter, and then scored twice more in that last period to make things more suspenseful.
The Brothers did have possession with less than a minute left, trying to run out the clock with an 8-7 lead, but turned it over and the Blue Devils tied it on Jared Gage’s goal.
A chance for CBA to win in regulation was turned back. On the OT faceoff Forks, after a violation by the Brothers, wasting little time, attacked and, within 18 seconds, had seen Noah Raymond put in the game-winner.
