ONONDAGA COUNTY – Once more, the Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool girls lacrosse teams faced one another, this time on the turf at Bragman Stadium.
Having won big 17-7 the first time around at LHS Stadium, the Northstars may have fully expected a tougher contest, even though Liverpool only carried a 5-6 record into the game.
Yet this would prove more lopsided, C-NS playing strong all-around defense while, on the other end, constantly putting shots into the net and not letting up until it had prevailed by a score of 14-3.
Much of the Northstars’ damage was rendered by the duo of Elizabeth Smith and Gabby Putman, with Smith pouring in six goals, twice Liverpool’s total, and Putman scoring four times as they each had one assist.
Passes came from Brooke Molchanoff and Mackenzie Prentice, who each finished with four assists. Molchanoff joined Shea Firth, Katy Harbold, Gabby Pauline and Kaelyn Reid getting single goals.
On Liverpool’s end, only Abby Geary, Caitlyn Guilfoil and Gianna Carbone earned goals, all of them unassisted. Ava Eicholzer took a turn in goal and finished with seven saves.
At least Liverpool had some momentum, hard-earned through a 9-8 overtime victory at Fayetteville-Manlius two nights earlier that complemented a 13-12 win over those same Hornets in April.
Here, it was 8-8 when, in the OT, Mia Berthoff attacked and put the game-winner past Hannah Williamson. It was Berthoff’s third goal of the night, her hat trick matching that of teammate Grace Geary.
Carbone, with two goals and two assists, gave Liverpool a third weapon, with Geary earning the other goal and assists going to Guilfoil and Emma Esposito.
Taylor Novack, with three goals and one assist, paced F-M’s attack. Grace Reyna added two goals and an assist, with Emily Noel getting a goal and two assists. Anne Leonard and Kathryn McNany also had goals.
Moving to Saturday’s action, C-NS, not looking ahead to its Tuesday showdown with Baldwinsville, got an impressive non-league win when it topped Section V’s Pittsford 9-6.
Strong defense, along with patient work on its possessions, would carry the Northstars past the Panthers as Molchanoff carried the attack, landing five assists to go with her pair of goals.
Smith scored three times and added an assist, while Doty also had three goals. Putman managed one goal and one assist as C-NS moved to 12-1 overall.
By contrast, Liverpool got flattened by South Jefferson in a 22-3 defeat, falling behind 14-1 by halftime as the Spartans got five goals apiece from Madelyn Barney and Savannah Hodges, plus four goals from Paisley Cook.
