CENTRAL NEW YORK – Four area high school oys lacrosse teams played four different Section III semifinal at three different venues Tuesday night, and only two of them reached the championship round.
West Genesee earned a berth in a highly-anticipated Class B title game against rival Fayetteville-Manlius when the top -seeded Wildcats shut down no. 5 seed Auburn 8-1 at Liverpool High School Stadium.
Auburn had a 12-5 record, had won six in a row and got this far by handling no. 4 seed East Syracuse Minoa 10-6 in the opening round, but it could not solve the puzzle of WG’s outstanding defense.
For three-plus quarters, the Wildcats’ back line turned back everything the Maroons threw at them. And Auburn had plenty of possessions, but 16 of its 17 shots were turned back by WG goalie Dylan Desena.
On the other end, Patrick Linton’s pair of goals, plus one from Liam Burns, had the Wildcats in front 3-0 after one period, and Nolan Bellotti converted in the second period.
Burns and Bellotti would each add second-half goals as River Oudemool, John Giannuzzi and Jonah Vormwold also found the net. Burns and Jack Mellen each got two assists as Charles Lockwood and Teshale Kelly also had assists.
Earlier that day, at Central Square, Westhill, the no. 2 seed in Class C, advanced to its sectional final with its own fine defensive effort in an 8-2 victory over no. 3 seed New Hartford.
All through the first half, the Spartans attempted to slow things down, and it worked – to a degree. The Warriors only scored twice, but shut out New Hartford to take a 2-0 advantage to the break.
Once the third quarter started, Westhill’s offense picked up. Luke Gilmartin (three goals, one assist) and Emmet Starowicz (two goals, three assists) led a getaway as single goals went to Kyle Rosenberger, Owen Etoll and Brian Allen.
Meanwhile, the Warriors’ defense continued to shut down most of what the Spartanst tried, only surrendering goals to Wyatt Cull and Caden Kramer by game’s end as Westhill advanced to the sectional final against top seed Christian Brothers Academy, who ousted reigning champion Jamesville-DeWitt 9-4.
Over at East Syracuse Minoa, the Class D semifinals saw top seed Skaneateles and no. 2 seed Marcellus both get ousted in radically different ways.
The Lakers were simply outscored by no. 4 seed LaFayette in a wild 17-15 battle where both sides struggled on defense, which ultimately played to the Lancers’ advantage.
Having lost 11-10 to LaFayette less than two weeks earlier, Skaneateles found itself in catch-up mode after a first half where it gradually assumed an 8-5 deficit.
Even when it scored five times in the third quarter, the Lakers did not make up much ground, still trailing 12-10 and then, down the stretch, seeing the deficit grown to 17-13 before a late comeback fell short.
Jack Weeks and Colin Morrissey had four goals apiece, with Sean Kerwick getting three goals and two assists. Ethan Hunt and Quinn Cheney each converted twice as, for the Lancers, Jameson Bucktooth (four goals, three assists) and Christian DeJoseph (three goals, three assists) led the way, Kahtehliyo Smith also scoring three times.
As for Marcellus, it never could recover from a rough first half in a 12-7 defeat to no. 3 seed Cazenovia in the first of the two semifinal games.
The Mustangs had beaten Cazenovia twice by narrow 7-6 and 8-7 margins in a four-day span earlier this spring, and the Lakers had needed a late comeback and overtime just to get past General Brown in the opening round May 21.
But here Cazenovia played strong defense and kept Marcellus off the board until the second quarter, and then kept on adding to its margin until the Mustangs found itself trailing 9-2 at the break.
Making up some ground, Marcellus moved within 11-6 by the fourth quarter, but drew no closer, its season ending with a 10-7 record.
