ONONDAGA COUNTY – With no shortage of motivation the Cicero-North Syracuse boys lacrosse team sought to play on its own home turf in the Section III Class A championship game – and stop a perfect season.
This was what the no. 4 seed Northstars faced against 16-0 top seed West Genesee in Wednesday’s sectional semifinal at Mike Messere Field, a task C-NS could not pull off twice during the regular season.
And it did not do so here, either, the Northstars suffering an 18-7 defeat to a Wildcats side well-balanced attack and just as strong on defense, at least after the opening period.
What happened in the first quarter shaped the rest of the game. C-NS had played WG rather close in 12-6 and 11-8 games during the regular season and found success in the early going against the vaunted Wildcats defense.
Despite this, WG still led the Northstars 6-4 through the opening period and gradually got away the rest of the half until it led 12-5 at the break and only gave up single goals in each of the last two periods.
Noah Samphier did all he could in the net, finishing with 10 saves. Only Donovan Cheney had multiple goals, converting twice as Luke Deinhart, Karsen Pritchard, Dom Sommers, Quinn Empey and Jack Putman had one goal apiece. Adrian Sweeney was held to a single assist.
Near-perfect scoring balance was found on the Wildcats’ top line, Chace Cogan and Jake McMahon each earning four goals and two assists matching the point total of Charlie Lockwood, who had three goals and three assists. Jack Wenham and Jeff Mercer both scored twice, with Wenham adding two assists.
C-NS had already beat someone three times this spring – someone who just happened to be the reigning sectional champions and its next-door neighbors.
When the Northstars battled past Liverpool 7-4 in last Saturday’s sectional quarterfinal at Bragman Stadium, it thwarted the Warriors’ attempt at turning around what had taken place earlier this spring.
Both on April 15 and May 1 C-NS prevailed against Liverpool, an 11-4 win at home followed by a 10-6 decision and in both instances the Norhstars led most of the way.
The third matchup would take on a slightly different tone in that the Warriors would try to replicate its 2024 championship formula of limiting possessions and playing high-level defense.
Part of the plan worked. The seven goals C-NS managed was the second-fewest it had netted all season, as most of its shots ended up turned back by Liverpool netminder Trevor Smith, who had 13 saves.
Yet the Warriors were contained, too, only getting two goals from Chris Matott and single tallies from Brady Michaud and Brendan Caraher as Aidan Tornabene added an assist.
A lot of it had to with C-NS getting the face-offs at the center X, with Emmit Porter taking 15 draws and winning 11 of them. This afforded patience and what the Northstars produced did prove enough.
Empey and Chaney both scored twice, to go with single goals from Porter, Sweeney and Pritchard as Deinhart earned two assists in what turned out be C-NS’s last win of an 11-6 season.
