ONONDAGA COUNTY – All season long, the Liverpool girls lacrosse team had put up great challenges against its large-school rivals, only to get turned away.
That finally changed last Thursday night at LHS Stadium, where the Warriors, having lost twice to Cicero-North Syracuse early this spring, got some payback with an impressive 19-13 victory over the Northstars.
Liverpool entered the night at 2-8, with C-NS at 8-1, but only once had the Warriors lost a game by more than five goals, which included the 10-7 and 13-8 defeats to the Northstars early in May.
Now, angry after a 17-4 loss to West Genesee two nights earlier, Liverpool countered everything C-NS threw at them in a wild first half where the defenses didn’t stop much.
By intermission, the Warriors led 11-9, and unlike other occasions this season it built on that margin, doubling up the Northstars the rest of the way with four different players earning hat tricks.
Jenna Irwin and Caroline Stevens led the way, each scoring five times and earning a pair of assists, with Kendra Hall getting four assists as she and Mia Berthoff both got three goals. Marcy Moore and Addyson Graham also converted.
C-NS lost despite four-goal outings from Fran Tortora and Brooke Malchanoff as Tortora got three assists. Victoria Iannotti had two goals as Jenna Pickard, Molly Malchanoff and Angela Beardsley had one goal apiece.
Before all this, C-NS had gone through two close games with Fayetteville-Manlius.
First, there was an 11-10 decision on May 15. Then, on the same Bragman Stadium turf three nights later, the Northstars had to rally late to outscore the Hornets 15-13.
As the season has progressed, the Hornets’ attack has diversified away from Ava Angello, which was evident as it worked its way to an 8-6 halftime lead.
This continued into the second half, with Victoria Horton and Grace Reyna both scoring twice to augment Angello’s five goals. Lillian Coleman and Caroine Steigerwald both had a goal and two assists, with Julianna Cogliandro and Halle Daino also finding the net.
And it still wasn’t enough to fend off C-NS’s late surge, led by Fran Tortora, who netted six goals and added a pair of assists to top Angello.
Molly Malchanoff and Angela Beardsley both got three-goal hat tricks, with Brooke Malchanoff picking up one goal and one assist as goalie Nicole O’Neil recorded six saves.
While that was going on, Liverpool was getting ripped at West Genesee, who jumped out 13-2 by halftime, with six different players earning multiple goals, led by Gabby Meager and Sophia Scialdone with three goals apiece.
Only Irwin scored twice for Liverpool, while Berthoff and Moore both got single goals. Kendra Hall added an assist, but nine of the Warriors’ 14 shots were stopped by Wildcats goalie Allie Hanlon.
All of that changed when Liverpool beat C-NS, leaving the Northstars to try and recover in Saturday’s game at Christian Brothers Academy just as the Warriors visited 7-1 Rome Free Academy.
Both teams would win, with Liverpool flattening the Black Knights 20-1 behind Hall’s five goals and five assists as Moore scored four times and Michelle Sacco notched a three-goal hat trick. Irwin had two assists as she, along with Stevens and Tifft, got two goals apiece.
C-NS got back to the win column by holding off CBA 13-11 almost entirely due to the Malchanoff sisters, with Molly and Brooke each amassing five goals as Tortora got two goals and two assists and Prentice had a goal and Mackenzie Prentice had a goal and three assists.
