CAMILLUS – What the Liverpool boys lacrosse team put together in the first 12 minutes of Saturday’s Section III Class A semifinal against Cicero-North Syracuse at West Genesee’s Mike Messere Field almost proved enough for the remaining 36 minutes.
But the no. 2 seed Warriors would need to go all the way to the wire, because the no. 3 seed Northstars battled its way back and almost caught up before Liverpool held on for a 10-8 victory.
These two archrivals had split their regular-season meetings, but the Warriors, who had a 7-9 record, still got the no. 2 seed ahead of C-NS despite the Northstars’ superior 11-5 mark.
The value in this was in the full week of rest Liverpool got, while C-NS had to play – and win – an opening-round sectional game last Wednesday night at Bragman Stadium against no. 6 seed Syracuse City.
Without much stress, the Northstars ripped past Syracuse 17-3, getting five goals and one assist from Adrian Sweeney and three-goal hat tricks from Donovan Chaney and Cy Liberman, who tacked on four assists.
Three days later, Liverpool greeted C-NS with a first quarter where it continually won face-offs and, led by Dom Osbeck and Chris Mattot, would net seven goals.
By halftime, it was still 7-1, but the Northstars’ defense had settled down and, getting more possessions, it made a big push in the third quarter, cutting the deficit in half.
So it was 9-6 going to the final period, and now it was Liverpool’s turn to shine on defense, making enough stops to preserve the lead as Owen Salanger ran his total to 12 saves, four more than C-NS counterpart Leyton Sullivan.
Osbeck and Mattot each finished with three goals, Osbeck adding two assists. Brady Michaud scored twice, while Owen Michaud had a goal and two assists and Mason Gridley had the other goal.
Sweeney led C-NS, his three goals running his season total to 55. Tanner Long and Karsen Pritchard had two goals apiece, with Liberman getting one goal and one assist and Rocco Villano converting, too.
In Wedneday’s sectional Class A final at Fulton, Liverpool will try and dethrone two-time defending state champion Baldwinsville, who knocked off top seed Fayetteville-Manlius 8-7 in the other semifinal.
