Perhaps a single, inspiring effort is not enough to transform a good season into a great one — but for the Cicero-North Syracuse boys lacrosse team, it could yet happen. Given little chance to win at Fayetteville-Manlius Tuesday night, the Northstars dictated the pace, led most of the night — then beat the Hornets in overtime 9-8 on Mike DeBottis’ goal a minute into the extra period. F-M came into the game at 13-1, riding an 11-game win streak and looking forward to key showdowns with West Genesee and Corcoran in the week ahead. In the process, though, the Hornets looked past CNS — and that proved to be a big mistake. Down 2-1 after one period, the Northstars blanked F-M in the second quarter to go out in front, 3-2, and would keep it close the rest of the way. On the defensive end, Eddie Kashmer, Mike Freytag, Billy Temple and the rest of the back line shut down every Hornet player except Matt Taylor, who had five of his team’s seven goals. When shots did get through, Anthony Puma scooped them up, as he earned 14 saves, twice the number of F-M’s Stefan Basile. CNS led, 6-5, going to the fourth quarter, and did not panic even when F-M rallied to force the overtime. Instead, the Northstars won the face-off, then set it up for DeBottis, whose shot eluded Basile to win it. Pat Tierney, a quiet figure most of the season, emerged on this night with two goals and three assists as DeBottis also found the net twice. Robbie Ashlaw, Zach MacNabb, John Stimson and Cody Powers also converted, with David Jennings and Tyler Craig earning assists. Now the trick for the Northstars was to follow this up, and not have a letdown Friday night against Baldwinsville. That didn’t prove to be a problem, as a fine all-around effort pushed the Northstars to a comfortable 13-4 win over the Bees. CNS raced out to a 3-0 edge in the opening period, only to see B’ville use Billy Ward’s trio of goals to pull within one, 4-3, late in the second quarter. But in the last minute of the first half, Ashlaw fed McCaffery for one goal and scored another, making it 6-3. As if that wasn’t enough, CNS blanked the Bees over the game’s final 22:18, using six unanswered goals in the third quarter (three of them in a span of 1:03) to get clear. Ashlaw, with three goals and four assists, set the pace, with Stimson also getting a three-goal hat trick. DeBottis and Nick Russo each got two goals, with Tierney getting a goal and two assists. McCafery and MacNabb also converted. Puma was superb, stopping 15 of the 19 shots he faced. Following a Tuesday home date with Henninger, CNS will get a big test Friday when it visits West Genesee (head coach Bill Aldrich’s alma mater) as a last outing before next week’s start to the Section III Class A playoffs.