CICERO – In order to win the Section III Class A championship, the Liverpool boys lacrosse team would need to avenge three of its five regular-season defeats.
That included having to go to Bragman Stadium and defeating Cicero-North Syracuse in Tuesday’s sectional semifinal – which the no. 3 seed Warriors did, leading most of the way and holding off all of the no. 2 seed Northstars’ comeback attempts to win 11-8.
These teams had only met once this spring, on May 6. There, C-NS trailed by two late in the fourth quarter, but rallied and prevailed 12-11 in overtime.
Something similar shaped up in the rematch, but in the long run the Northstars did not recover from the 5-0 run the Warriors put together in the game’s early stages.
It started just 10 seconds after Mike Koehler’s goal erased a 1-0 Liverpool lead late in the first quarter. Jaylen Graham won the ensuing faceoff and Jackson Furr put the Warriors back in front – to stay, as it turned out.
Graham and Joe Sacco added goals before the period ended, and in the first 90 seconds of the second quarter two more goals – one by Gavin Kenna, another by Owen Michaud – made it 6-1.
Led by Mason Blakeman’s pair of goals, C-NS battled back and closed the gap to 7-4 by halftime. Both sides scored only once in the third period, the Northstars constantly frustrated as Liverpool goalie Owen Salanger kept making big stops on his way to 20 saves overall.
Three times in the final period, C-NS would pull within two. Each time, the Warriors answered it, the attack led by sn Michaud, who assisted on late goals by Sacco and Aaron Clouthier and then clinched it by converting his fifth goal with 1:40 to play.
Along with the five goals, Michaud earned four assists as Dom Osbeck got two assists. On C-NS’s side, Blakeman finished with four goals as Koehler scored twice and single goals went to Elijah Martin and Ian Leahey.
Liverpool will face top seed Baldwinsville in the sectional title game after the Bees routed Syracuse City 19-2 in the other semifinal. The Warriors lost to B’ville 15-10 on April 26 and 13-8 on May 12.
