ONONDAGA COUNTY – With the Section III Class A playoffs fast approaching, the Cicero-North Syracuse girls lacrosse team could take solace in, among other things, getting the best of rival Liverpool twice in their three meetings.
Yet it was the Warriors who were building confidence thanks to a late-season win streak that had started May 20 when it beat the Northstars 19-13 to prevent a sweep of the rivalry.
A week later, Liverpool avenged another defeat to a league rival, this time beating Fayetteville-Manlius 15-12 in the first of two late-season battles with the Hornets.
Kendra Hall, with five goals and three assists, set the pace, with Jenna Irwin, Mia Berthoff, Margaret Tifft and Caroline Stevens each scoring twice, Irwin adding two assists. Single goals went to Michelle Sacco and Magdalena Larca. Abby Cole finished with 10 saves.
C-NS, meanwhile, was twice traveling to Baldwinsville, who still remembered how it had lost to the Northstars in overtime on May 11.
At Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium, the Bees quieted the Northstars 10-5 in the May 27 rematch, its defense consistently taking the ball away from C-NS, which allowed it to dictate the tempo.
Fran Tortora notched a goal and three assists, while Brooke Malchanoff, Victoria Iannotti and Molly Malchanoff had one goal apiece. Carlie DeSimone led B’ville with three goals and two assists.
Two days later, on that same B’ville turf, the game went in a completely different direction, with the offenses having their way, especially in the second half.
Tortora flourished with five goals and six assists, setting a new career mark for points. Brooke Malchanoff had four goals, with Iannotti and Molly Malchanoff each converting twice and single goals from Angela Beardsley and Ella Pauldine.
All of this came in an 18-15 loss because B’ville had five different players earn hat tricks. Emma Gebhardt had five goals and two assists, while Grace Hollenbeck, Olivia Muscolino, Sophia Muscolino and Tiffany Natoli each got three goals.
Given these result, C-NS needed to win last Tuesday at West Genesee – and did so, prevailing 9-7 to claim a close season series with the Wildcats.
Both of the previous encounters were one-goal decisions, and the Northstars, looking to break that trend, scored five straight goals on WG early in the second half to break out of a 3-3 tie.
But the Wildcats fought back with a 4-0 run of its own to pull within one late before C-NS netted an insurance goal in the closing minutes.
Iannotti, Mackenzie Prentice and Molly Malchanoff each scored twice, with Tortora getting a goal and three assists. Jenna Pickard and Brooke Malchanoff had the other goals.
While that went on, Liverpool challenged 12-1 South Jefferson and nearly upended the Spartans before taking a 12-11 defeat.
Hall had five goals and Stevens netted three goals, with Irwin scoring twice as Tifft got a goal and two assists. But South Jefferson had seven different goal-scorers to Liverpool’s four, led by Karsyn Burnash (three goals, one assist) and Julia Garvin, who got two goals and three assists.
Then Liverpool got its own shot at B’ville last Thursday, the game evolving into another wild shootout where the Warriors were outscored by the Bees in an 18-15 decision.
Down 10-4 at halftime, Liverpool made a strong late charge, seeing Tifft set a career mark with five goals and two assists as Berthoff and Sacco both got three goals, Hall adding two goals and an assist.
B’ville still proved too difficult to catch, with Gebhardt amassing five goals and three assists and help from Desimone and Olivia Muscolino, who each got four goals.
When Liveprool faced Fayetteville-Manlius last Saturday, it prevailed 15-11 over the Hornets to improve to 6-10 overall as Tifft put up five goals and one assist, with Hall earning four goals and two assists. Irwin had three goal and two assists as Sacco converted twice. Stevens and Marcy Moore also found the net.
All of this would lead to the Section III Class A playoffs, where C-NS, as the no. 3 seed, would host no. 6 seed Liverpool Tuesday night for the right to see who would face no. 2 seed West Genesee in Thursday’s semifinals.
