C-NS girls lacrosse falls to B’ville in sectional final

By PhIl BlACkwEll

Full satisfaction for the Cicero-North Syracuse girls lacrosse team would only arrive if it claimed the Section III Class A championship in exactly the scenario that presented itself.

It required that the Northstars dethrone the reigning state champions from Baldwinsville in last Tuesday’s title game at Christian Brothers Academy’s Alibrandi Stadium, a task not impossible since C-NS had won in overtime the last time the two sides met.

What happened, though, was a reinforcement of the Bees’ hold over the large-school ranks as it used a balanced attack to wear down and defeat the Northstars 18-11.

For the older C-NS players, not only was there the most recent head-to-head meeting a result to draw upon, so was the 2021 sectional final the Northstars won in OT at B’ville.

But the Bees remembered these outcomes, too, and had adjusted its offense, finding itself less dependent on the trio of Carlie Desimone, Brianna Peters andMia Pozzi and, as a result, far more difficult to contain.

The Bees and Northstars traded goals in the first nine minutes before B’ville began to take over, starting with Pozzi and Sophia Ianno grabbing most of the draws.

That led to the 6-0 run. Peters, Pozzi, Muscolino, Nataoli, Jaya Madigan and Leah Otts all put shots past Nicole Mirra and C-NS found itself trailing 8-2. Natoli hit twice more and stretched the margin to 10-3 late in the half, so once again C-NS found itself working from behind, but gave itself a chance at yet another unlikely comeback.

Mackenzie Prentice and Shea Firth both converted in the last 90 seconds of the half. Then Gabby Putman scored 35 seconds into the second half, and the Bees’ margin was down to 10-6.

Again, B’ville had an emphatic answer. Muscolino’s second and third goals, along with back-to-back tallies from Carlie Desimone and a third goal from Peters, stretched the lead to 15-6 with 17 minutes to play.

Picking up its level of play, C-NS made a run of its own, netting three goals in less than three minutes to make it 15-9, but any doubts about the outcome were erased when Pozzi hit on her second and third goals of the night and Desimone completed her hat trick.

Elizabeth Smith earned all three of her goals in the second half. Putman and Prentice both scored twice and got two assists, with Sophia Nesci getting a goal and two assists.

Before it faced B’ville, C-NS had to get even with Liverpool for the stunning defeat it took to its neighbor and rival in the 2022 sectional semifinals.

This happened on May 25 at Central Square, the Northstars steady and relentless as it put away Liverpool 16-7, adding to the results of two regular-season encounters. It was Smith, with four goals and one assist, and Brooke Molchanoff, with two goals and four assists, going to the forefront of a well-balanced C-NS attack. Nesci, Marissa Doty and Gabby Pauline also had two-goal outings. Putman had a goal and three assists, with Prentice getting a goal and two assists as Anna Myers and Meghan McGrath also had goals.

For Liverpool, who finished its season with a 5-12 record, Gianna Carbone accounted for most of the offense, finishing with four goals. Grace Geary and Mia Berthoff each had one goal and one assist, the other goal going to Abby Geary as Caitlyn Guilfoil got an assist. Ava Eicholzer finished with eight saves.