High school boys lacrosse: Christian Brothers Academy takes over in second half, denies Watertown sectional title
Jun. 5—CICERO — The Watertown boys lacrosse team stood one half away from winning an elusive sectional title.
The Cyclones built a lead through the first half and seemed poised to accomplish their goal, only to be turned away.
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Top-seeded Christian Brothers Academy rallied after halftime to down second-seeded Watertown for a 9-6 triumph in the Section 3 Class B title game Monday on a hot and muggy evening at Cicero-North Syracuse High School.
"We fought hard," Cyclones goalie Norman Cushman said. "The defense played really well and it was kind of tough for us on offense, but everybody worked hard."
Nico Spaziani generated four goals to lead Watertown (14-4), which competed in a sectional final for the second straight season.
"I don't know, I think we all left our hearts out there," Watertown senior Owen O'Donnell said. "It's tough, we had a good first half, but we didn't win, we just couldn't get it done."
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The Cyclones got off to a strong start, backed by another stalwart defensive effort, on the way to building a 5-3 advantage through the first half.
Spaziani scored three of his goals in the first half to spark Watertown early on.
"We played a great first half," Watertown coach Brian Navarra said. "We wore them down a little bit in the first half, we were going back and forth, the defense was good, Norman was making saves and clearing the ball, Nico really stepped up in that first half."
That's when CBA took over, dominating in the possession game and holding Watertown to only one goal after halftime.
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The Brothers scored the next five goals, including generating four tallies in the third quarter.
After Vin Lazzaro scored in the first minute of the third quarter and Ben Anderson followed with the tying goal from long range 4:23 into the period.
Lazzaro struck again by generating the go-ahead goal, again an unassisted effort, with 52.9 seconds left in the quarter.
With CBA leading 6-5 heading into the fourth quarter, Lazzaro scored 1:16 into the fourth and Liam Harty followed with a goal with 9:39 remaining in regulation to boost the lead to three goals.
Watertown answered on a goal from Spaziani with 7:30 remaining in regulation to pull his team within 8-6.
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But CBA won the ensuing faceoff and Lazzaro added a goal with 1:20 left for the final margin.
"We couldn't really get going offensively," Navarra said of the second half. "Jack Adams is hurt, he can't really run, he was giving his all. But he initiates a lot of our offense, at least to draw slides and distribute to other guys, so that kind of hurt a little bit.
"But I don't know, we played so much defense and when we got on offense we kind of rushed a little too much and that caught up with us."
The Brothers set the tone for much of the night, winning 14 of 19 faceoffs, including seven in the second half.
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"It was huge," CBA coach Jeremy Boltus said of the second half. "We were a little bit bummed, we talked about it, we got opportunities in the first half, we just didn't take advantage of it. But like all year, our defense kind of put us on their shoulders a little bit.
"Drew Britton was phenomenal in net, they started executing the game plan a little bit more, stopping Nico, who is just an incredible player. And I told them once we get warm, the avalanche is probably going to come and thankfully we did and we're just really thankful for it."
With CBA controlling the ball, Watertown went scoreless for nearly 23 minutes of the game.
"So we were happy with where we were at in the first half, we only gave up three goals and we were fine, in good shape," Navarra said. "We knew we needed more from our offense and then, I don't know, everything kind of died in the second half, quite honestly.
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"We burnt right out, we stopped doing the little things right, that's going to cost you in a game like this. Stopped getting ground balls, giving the top side to certain offensive guys, little mistakes killed us."
The Cyclones got off to an encouraging start, with Kage Loftus, Spaziani each scoring a goal in the first quarter to build a 3-1 advantage.
Spaziani supplied two goals in the second quarter, including a tally with 4:46 left to stake the Cyclones to the 5-3 advantage.
Cushman made 20 saves, with of them coming in the first half, as Watertown contained CBA offensively for much of the opening 24 minutes.
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Lazzaro finished with four goals, and Jack Wichmann contributed a pair of goals to spark CBA (15-3).
"It feels great, I give all the credit to the players, Boltus said. "They've stayed the course throughout the three years from when I took over to this point."
Watertown played in the final after reaching a sectional title game for the first time last year.
"Next year we've got to come back stronger," Cushman, a sophomore, added. "We played well, just not quite enough."
Navarra is proud of what the team, led by its senior class, has accomplished, not just season, but for what the program as a whole has achieved.
"It's tough, this one is going to sting for a while." Navarra said. "It's just such an awesome group of seniors with 12 guys that are going to be sorely missed. This senior group, not only were the game changers and season changers, they were program changers, they changed the scope of the program and they'll be sorely missed."
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