ONONDAGA COUNTY – When the Fayetteville-Manlius and Christian Brothers Academy boys lacrosse teams battled each other on May 29 at Alibrandi Stadium, they did so while gearing up for their respective Section III championship drives.
It was the Hornets that would get the best of this head-to-head battle, racing out to an 11-3 lead by halftime and cruising the rest of the way to beat the Brothers 15-7.
Pratt Reynolds’ late-season tear continued as he poured in five goals. Caden Yancey, Josh Michel, T.J. Conley and Connor Aspinall each scored twice, with single goals going to Ty Teelin and Isaac Frechette.
Combined, F-M goalies Matt LaCombe and Alex Duggleby stopped 18 of CBA’s 25 shots. Only Declan Landers scored twice for the Brothers as Dan Anderson got a goal and two assists. Joe Papa, Chris Adornato, John Greenwood and Andrew Kohlbrenner had the other goals.
Back on May 27, F-M had handled Liverpool 16-5, with Teelin scoring five times to set a career mark as Reynolds added four goals and two assists. Conley had two goals and two assists.
Then, after beating CBA, F-M sought a season sweep of Baldwinsville last Tuesday on the same Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium turf where it beat the Bees 17-10 a week earlier.
This version proved a lot closer, but the Hornets pulled it out, 12-11. In a near-identical start to the May 25 game, the Hornets led 5-1 after one period but the Bees chipped away, pulling within two, 7-5, by the end of the third quarter to set up a frantic final period.
Early in the quarter, B’ville tied it, 9-9, and after a tense scoreless stretch it took a 10-9 lead with less than four minutes left, only to have F-M counter with two quick goals to go back in front.
With 2:01 left, the Bees tied it again, 11-11, and in the last minute had a chance to win it, only to see the defense make one more crucial stop.
Then Matt Lacombe, who had made 22 saves on the night, threw a long outlet pass to Michel, who, despite a B’ville midfielder draped on him, charged toward the net and put the game-winner past Cooper Foote with 1.3 seconds left.
All told, the Hornets had seven different goal-scorers, with Michel (three goals) setting the pace. Reynolds, Yancey and Conley had two goals apiece, with Frechette, Anthony DaRin and John Angelicola getting the other goals.
By contrast, last Thursday’s 18-8 win over West Genesee was far less stressful as Reynolds scored five times and Frechette added four goals to pace F-M.
Michel and Teelin both had a goal and two assists, with Yancey getting one goal and one assist. Duggleby and Matt Lacombe had 16 total saves as Yancey, Angelicola, George LaCombe and James Addonizio also converted.
With one more chance to play last Saturday, F-M bashed Liverpool again, this time an 18-4 decision where Reynolds added five more goals and four others – Yancey, Frechette, T.J. Conley and Max Miller – each converted twice.
Back on May 27, CBA was quite impressive in bashing Homer 17-3. Landers proved unstoppable, setting a new career mark with nine goals as he was constantly fed by Joe Papa, whose eight assists was also a career high.
Greenwood scored three times as Dan Anderson got a goal and three assists. Adornato, Seamus Nicholson and Matt Genovese also converted, Kohlbrenner adding two assists.
After the loss to F-M, the Brothers roared back last Tuesday and crushed Marcellus 13-1, with Papa tearing apart the Mustangs’ defense thanks to his six goals and three assists.
Landers scored three times, with Anderson adding a goal and three assists. Greenwood, Nicholson and Dan Ludington had the other goals and, between them, Matt Craybas and Joe Andalaro stopped 12 of Marcellus’ 13 shots.
Just as impressive was the fact that CBA, just 24 hours later, handled a quality Westhill team 13-7, outscoring the Warriors (who had won seven in a row prior to that game) in every single quarter.
Landers and Adornato both scored three times, with Papa getting two goals and two assists. Ludington also converted twice as Bracton Bowler had a goal and two assists and Kohlbrenner had one goal and one assist. Craybas and Andalaro had nine saves between them.
F-M is the top seed in the sectional Class B playoffs, with CBA the no. 2 seed in Class C, two wins away from a possible final against no. 1 seed and defending champion Jamesville-DeWitt.
