Liverpool boys stopped by B’ville in title game

By PhIl BlACkwEll

Once more, the Liverpool boys lacrosse team took aim at Baldwinsville, the Section III Class A championship at stake and, for quite a while, could reasonably dream of claiming the title.

However, those dreams met a cold, harsh reality over the course of the last two quarters as the Warriors found itself overwhelmed by the Bees in the latter stages of a 16-7 defeat.

Liverpool had offered the only serious challenge to B’ville all season among area Class A sides, having dropped a narrow 10-9 decision late in April.

And for quite a while here, it appeared that the Warriors may have discovered a winning formula, keeping the Bees’ potent attack out of sorts while efficient and effective on the other end.

The first quarter ended tied 2-2. While the pace picked up a bit the rest of the half, Liverpool remained tough, matching whatever B’ville produced and going to the break even at 5-5.

What followed, in the third quarter, was the Bees dominating the face-off circle, getting ground balls and creating extra possessions. Gradually, they wore the Warriors’ defenses down, leading to a 6-1 push through the third quarter and not letting up in the final period, either.

On Liverpool’s side, three different players – Joe Sacco, Aaron Clouthier and Brady Michaud – had two goals apiece, with Mason Gridley also finding the net and Owen Michaud adding two assists. Owen Salanger finished with 15 saves.

For B’ville, five different players had multiple goals, led by Keegan Lynch, who got five assists to go with his pair of tallies, while Garrett Sutton scored four times and added an assist. Iggy LoMedico had a threegoal hat trick as Carson Dyl and Brady Garcia also had two-goal outings

Part of what differed 2023 from 2022 was that the Bees were reigning state champions, making it an even more alluring target for the challengers.

And part of it also came from the wildly contrasting way the two teams got this far.

Before B’ville bashed Syracuse City in one semifinal on May 26, Liverpool, challenged by no. 3 seed Cicero-North Syracuse on the Northstars’ own home turf, had to rally late to claim a 7-6 decision over the Northstars.

Having lost both of their regular-season meetings by close margins (12-10) and 1110) and short-handed on offense after Ma- son Ciciarelli’s season-ending injury, C-NS knew the only chance it had was to slow things down.

And that’s exactly what it did, controlling enough possession time to never let Liverpool get comfortable throughout the game’s early stages, the two sides exchanging one goal in the first period and two in the second.

Then, in the third quarter, the Northstars scored twice more and inched into a 5-4 lead that held until early in the final period, when Liverpool’s Aaron Clouthier again pulled his side even.

It was Joe Sacco getting Liverpool in front 6-5, a margin it would maintain by the end as Brady Michaud carried the attack, scoring three times and adding three assists.

Clouthier got two assists as he joined Dom Osbeck with single goals and Owen Michaud got an assist. Ian Leahey led C-NS, also netting three goals, with Elijah Martin adding a goal and two assists. Karsen Pritchard and Tyler Mliewski had the other goals.