Entering the second half of the regular season, boys lacrosse teams at Cazenovia and Chittenango knew that they both had to up their win totals if they wanted a taste of playoff action.
But for the Lakers, that meant trying to knock off state Class D no. 4-ranked Marcellus last Tuesday night, and it though got off to a great start, Cazenovia could not quite sustain it in a 6-4 defeat to the Mustangs.
Right from the outset, the Lakers got the tempo it wanted and blanked Marcellus in the first quarter, yet only built a 2-0 advantage, one that the Mustangs erased by breaking out in the second quarter.
Trailing 4-3 at halftime, Cazenovia was able to mostly contain Marcellus as the second half went on, only to get frustrated by Mustangs goalie Rob Seeleey, who turned away 13 of the Lakers’ 17 shots.
Only Cole Basic and Ty Freyer, with two goals apiece, were able to solve Seeley as Brody Coleman notched a pair of assists. Lakers goalie Ian Fostveit had seven saves as Liam Tierney and Matt Connell each scored twice for Marcellus, Tighe Powell adding three assists.
Two days later, Cazenovia challenged state Class C no. 8-ranked Westhill, and the game resembled Marcellus with low scores and the Lakers unable to produce enough to win, falling to the Warriors 6-3.
The key sequence came in the second quarter. Cazenovia trailed, 3-1, but proceeded to shut out Westhill in those 12 minutes, only to find itself unable to get on the board, either.
So the chase continued the rest of the way, with goals from Coleman, Feyer and Ryan Romagnoli, but no one else as Romagnoli added an assist. Will Delano had three of the Warriors’ six goals as Charlie Bolesh got three assists.
Chittenango, meanwhile, was 1-7 thanks to a 19-3 defeat to Cortland on April 20, but the Bears recovered two nights later, rolling past the Holland Patent Golden Knights 16-6.
Chittenango shut out HP in the first quarter, building a 4-0 edge, and again kept the Golden Knights off the board while scoring five times in the third period to draw clear.
Zeph Scott finished with five goals and one assist, while Shane Kolb got four goals and two assists. Caleb Barnard had three goals and two assists as Ethan Robles scored twice. Elias Clement and Brad Tily each had three assists as Tily and Bryce Erickson earned single goals.
All this made a 26-4 defeat to Christian Brothers Academy a bit easier to take. Playing for a fourth time in six days, the Bears gave up 20 unanswered goals in the first half alone as Kolb did score twice in the second half, with Scott and Barnard also finding the net.
In Thursday’s 15-3 loss to Homer, the Bears never scored more than once in any period and could not contain the Trojans’ Dylan Yacovane, who burned them for seven goals and three assists.
Connor Matthews further helped Homer with four goals and one assist. Barnard, in defeat, had one goal and one assist, with the other goals going to Scott and Kolb. Corey Jackowski made seven saves.
Chittennago would meet Tully and Skaneateles this week as Cazenovia would host Marcellus on Monday and then make a Thursday trip to LaFayette.
