CORNING – Twelve minutes of excellence delivered what the Cicero-North Syracuse girls lacrosse team had waited 28 years to achieve.
The Northstars broke out of a tie with Fairport early in the fourth quarter Saturday at SUNY Cortland and, by a 12-8 margin, claimed the state Class A championship, its first since 1997.
“It means the world to us,” said senior Gabby Putman, the team’s season-long force in the draw circle. “This team is amazing and is a special group.”
“They just had a dream and made it happen,” said head coach Stephanie Prentice. “I have no words for it.”
Just when it was required the most, C-NS played at its best – in the fourth quarter of the title game after it had led most of the way, only to see Fairport, the Section V champions, rally to tie it 8-8 with one period left.
Talking to her team before the quarter started, Prentice said she kept it simple.
“I told them that we came here to win,” she said. “That was it.”
And win the Northstars did, taking the lead for good when Sophia Nesci, a force all throughout the state final four, fed Brooke Molchanoff for the go-ahead goal with 10:10 to play.
Within less than 90 seconds, it was 10-7, Putman twice winning draws and then landing a goal of her own as Natalie Wilson converted, too, Nesci recording her fourth assist of the afternoon.
Wilson wasn’t done, either, landing two more goals to complete her hat trick, the last of them with 4:38 to play as Nesci picked up her 10th assist of the weekend to go with a pair of goals. Elizabeth Smith and Marissa Doty also had two-goal outings, with Smith adding a pair of assists.
is culminated the restoration of long-sought C-NS lacrosse glory, gained in the early years of the state tournament in the late 1990s and lost for a generation as rivals like Baldwinsville, Fayetteville-Manlius and West Genesee all took their turns getting to the top multiple times.
An awesome roster which lacked nothing, from scoring ability to defensive aggression, was on display from the start against Fairport as Putman set the tone, two draws which led to goals by Smith and Doty nine seconds apart.
From there, Fairport only caught up at 5-5 in the second quarter, a tie that lasted 13 seconds as Putman grabbed the ensuing draw and fed it to Kaelyn Reid, whose goal created a 6-5 advantage that stood at halftime.
Defense ruled most of the third quarter, playing right into Fairport’s hands as Ella Peers’ third goal created the 7-7 tie.
All that did, though, was clear the stage for C-NS’s ultimate final statement.
“We weren’t concerned,’ said Putman. “Our adrenalin was going and we were not scared.”
It showed on the field, too, where the Northstars turned its collective desire into long-awaited state championship destiny.
