CENTRAL NEW YORK – Perhaps the Westhill boys lacrosse team remains the standard in the area Class D ranks.
In last Monday’s game against Cazenovia at Christakos Field, the Warriors trailed early, but went ahead by halftime and leaned on a terrific defense to earn a big 9-6 victory over the Lakers.
Cazenovia arrived at this game sporting a 5-1 record and jumped out in front 4-1 by the end of the first quarter, but Westhill, led by Kyle MacCaull and Kyle Rosenberger, countered with four unanswered goals in the second period.
Up 5-4 at the break, the Warriors never trailed again, constantly leaning on its back line to thwart any Lakers comeback and getting 11 saves from goalie Owen Mahar.
All told, MacCaull scored three times, with Rosenberger adding two goals and one assist. Luke Gilmartin, Emmet Starowicz and Charles DeMore had single goals as Brian Allen earned a pair of assists. Westhill’s defense held Cazenovia’s top player, Brody Coleman, to just two goals.
Proving impressive again on Saturday afternoon, Westhill handled Auburn 12-5, a game where it mostly exchanged goals until it took over in the second half, outscoring the Maroons 7-1.
Gilmartin led that late charge, netting five goals and adding a pair of assists. Rosenberger got three goals, with Etoll scoring twice as MacCaull and Sean Rogers had the other goals.
Marcellus would get its turn against Cazenovia at week’s end and pull out a tense 7-6 decision over the Lakers, getting the tying and go-ahead goals in the final period after the Lakers built a 6-5 advantage through three quarters.
Chris Doshna, with four goals, carried the Mustangs’ attack most of the way. Adam Rayfield scored twice, with Doryn LeClair getting three assists as Marcus Darminio got a goal. Quentin Polkowski was brilliant in the net, turning back 16 of Cazenovia’s 22 shots.
This happened right after Marcellus tried to get the long-elusive upper hand in its rivalry against Skaneateles on Thursday – and not do so.
The Lakers beat the Mustangs 7-3, heavily leaning on its defense at critical stages of the game, especially during a second quarter where it did not score – but it kept Marcellus off the board, too.
By then, Skaneateles had a 4-1 edge that it would preserve well thanks to a back line showing vast improvement in front of Luke Renaud, who put up 12 saves.
Ethan Hunt’s three-goal hat trick paced a modest attack where Jack Weeks and Sean Kerwick each converted twice, while Colin Morrissey tacked on an assist.
Prior to that, Marcellus met LaFayette last Tuesday night and, improving to 6-2 on the season, earned a 12-9 victory over the Lancers.
Mostly, it was a four-pronged attack for the Mustangs, LeClair getting four goals and two assists as Doshna and Rayfield each scored three times, Rayfield adding a pair of assists. Darminio and Donovan Fraher added single goals and Polkowski recorded 13 saves.
This happened as Skaneateles put away Chittenango 19-9, unleashing a potent attack that built a 16-7 advantage through three quarters as the Lakers had its best goal total of the season.
Hunt and Weeks both finished with four goals and one assist. Morrissey scored three times, adding three assists as Kerwick notched five assists to go with his pair of tallies. Jeff McCrone had three goals, Charlie Carbonaro two goals and Jack Torrey one goal and one assist.
On Thursday, Westhill had its own game with LaFayette and rolled to a 15-8 victory, with MacCaull scoring five times and Owen Etoll adding three goals. Rosenberger had two goals and one assist as single goals went to Gilmartin, Starowicz, DeMore, Brian Allen and Brady Mannion. Mahar finished with seven saves.
Jordan-Elbridge met Homer last Thursday and lost, 18-6, to the Trojans, getting outscored 7-0 in the third quarter. Wade Brunelle managed all six of the Eagles’ goals, two of them assisted by Bryan Tanner.
