ONONDAGA COUNTY – Eleven straight times over the course of five years, the Liverpool boys lacrosse team had encounters with its neighbors from Baldwinsville, and it always ended with the side wearing red victorious.
That finally changed last Thursday afternoon at LHS Stadium when Mason Gridley’s goal in the second overtime period pushed the Warriors past the Bees 8-7.
Even with that kind of score, the game had all sorts of momentum shifts, Liverpool jumping out to a 4-1 advantage by the end of the first quarter.
It stayed that way until the third period when, temporarily solving the Warriors’ sticky defense, the Bees went on a 5-1 tear to take a 7-6 lead, but it would not score again.
All through the fourth quarter, Liverpool’s defense kept B’ville out, and that trended continued throughout a scoreless first OT after the Warriors had tied it late in regulation. Owen Salanger stopped 17 of the 24 shots he faced.
Only in the second extra period did it end when Gridley put it past Trevor Sutton, who to that point had made 11 saves. It gave Gridley a hat trick, his three goals and one assist augmented by Owen Michaud’s two goals and two assists as Brady Michaud, Dom Osbeck and Chris Mattot had the other goals.
All this came after Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse had setbacks exactly one week after the Warriors gave the Northstars its first defeat of the season.
The Warriors took a tough 8-6 defeat to Fayetteville-Manlius last Tuesday night on the Hornets’ home turf. Through three quarters, Liverpool’s defense had done its job well, and the result was a 5-4 advantage. But it did not stick as F-M finally found some gaps in that resistance and doubled its output in the final period.
Brady Michaud scored twice, with goals also going to Mattot, Gridley and Owen Michaud. Osbeck got an assist as Salanger finished with nine saves. Randal Hearn (three goals) and Colin Coark (two goals) paced the Hornets.
After the battle with B’ville, Liverpool had enough energy left on Saturday for a 13-4 win in its annual visit from Essex Junction (Vermont), where it led 9-1 through one quarter and breezed the rest of the way. Owen Michaud had four goals and three assists, while Noah Eicholzer stepped up with three goals and one assist. Osbeck and BrendanCaraher each had two goals and one assist.
C-NS, meanwhile, was in the first state Class A poll at no. 10, but took an immediate hit when it went to West Genesee last Tuesday and lost, 19-8, to the Wildcats.
WG jumped out 6-2 on C-NS by the end of the first quarter and just kept adding to that margin the rest of the way. Eleven different Wildcats had at least one goal, with Nolan Bellotti’s four goals leading the away and extra possessions gained by Jonah Vorwmold winning 20 of 24 face-offs.
Adrian Sweeney scored four times for C-NS, but the rest of the team combined for just four – two by Rocco Villano, one each by Cy Liberman and Joe Malecki – as Leyton Sullivan gained 14 saves.
Tough as this was, Thursday’s game with Fayetteville-Manlius hurt more. As with Liverpool and B’ville, it went to overtime and ended with an 8-7 margin going in the Hornets’ favor.
Accustomed to tight games, the Northstars trailed 7-6 late in regulation, only to have Villano work free and, with 15 seconds left, beat Conor Reynolds for the tying goal, his fourth of the afternoon.
C-NS then won the draw in OT, but after a stop by Hornets goalie Conor Reynolds, the Hornets possessed the ball and worked it around until, with 1:41 left, Tyler Burns slipped a shot past Sullivan to end it.
No other Northstars player beside Villano had multiple goals, Sweeney held to one along with Tanner Long and Donovan Chaney as Liberman piled up four assists and Karsen Pritchard also got an assist. Sullivan gained 11 saves to Reynolds’ 13.
