ONONDAGA COUNTY – Yet another local battle in boys lacrosse completed the week as Fayetteville-Manlius visited East Syracuse Minoa and the Spartans rose up to knock off the Hornets 12-11.
Not in more than 15 years had ESM defeated F-M, but in this game it fought to a 7-6 halftime lead and, after the Hornets tied it, the Spartans reclaimed the lead in the final period and held on.
Energized by 12 saves from goalie Ethan Pickard, ESM saw Cayden Claflin gain five goals and one assist. Mike Santillo scored three times and got three assists, with Noah Taylor and Nick Courcy both scoring twice and combining for three assists.
F-M never had any single player match the production of Claflin or Santillo as Tom Porter (three goals, one assist) and Henry Dougherty (two goals, two assists) led the attack. Randall Hearn and Jon Schalk also scored twice, Colin Clark adding a goal and two assists as Ezra Kligerman made 10 saves.
The Hornets arrived at this game coming off a tough week where it had put its four-game win streak on the line against state Class A no. 11-ranked Cicero-North Syracuse and managed to beat the Northstars 10-9.
Dougherty’s four goals led F-M here, with Schalk getting two goals and one assist. Porter earned three assists as he added a goal to match Clark, Caden Green and Tyler Burns.
Before playing C-NS, the Hornets had bashed defending sectional Class A champion Liverpool 18-5, a fine all-around performance where it peaked with seven unanswered goals in the third quarter.
Porter and Schalk led with four goals apiece, Porter adding three assists. Green scored twice and got two assists, with Dougherty and Dylan Murphy also netting two goals as Hearn andBurns both got a goal and two assists.
ESM was playing its sixth game in 12 days. In the midst of it was a 17-8 win over Rome Free Academy on April 19 where nine different players netted goals, led by Claflin’s four goals and two assists. Taylor had five assists as he joined Santillo and Josh Glanton with two goals apiece and Nick Courcy had a three-goal hat trick.
What followed for the Spartans was a 13-5 defeat to Baldwinsville last Tuesday night, ESM not getting on the board until the second quarter by which point the Bees were comfortably in front.
Santillo earned two goals, with single tallies going to Courcy, Claflin and Jackson Tedesco. In goal, Ethan Pickard recorded eight saves as B’ville got four goals and three assists from Tieman Lynch and three
goals from Zach Bice.
In last Thursday’s 17-4 win over Syracuse City ESM scored 10 unanswered goals in the first quarter and breezed from there. Claflin amassed five assists to go with his hat trick as Santillo put up four goals. Taylor and Jake Aldrich each converted twice.
