Charged with one of the most daunting single-game tasks in program history, the East Syracuse Minoa boys lacrosse team was sure to put its entire effort into reaching the state Class B championship game.
But getting past Victor, the Section V power that has won state titles each of the last three years (twice in Class B, once in Class A), proved too much of a hurdle.
Sparked by a stunning goal from goalie Chayse Ierlan in the opening minute, the Blue Devils controlled all phases of the game and put away the Spartans 18-3 Wednesday in the state semifinals at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium.
“We just didn’t execute,” said ESM head coach Jon McCoy. “My hope was for us to perform the best we could on the biggest state, and we just didn’t do it.”
Victor had more consecutive state tournament wins (10) than ESM had in its entire program history, which can create the confidence to do things most teams wouldn’t consider – such as Ierlan’s dash, which proved far from mad.
Following a scramble for the opening face-off, Ierlan picked up the ball near his net. Seeing ESM’s players all congregated near the sidelines, Ierlan took off up the middle without any resistance, and didn’t stop until he had put it past Spartans counterpart Owen Anzalone 34 seconds into the game.
“That was a heck of a start,” said McCoy.
Such a rare occurrence galvanized Victor – and humbled ESM, who had plenty of possession and scoring chances in the early minutes, but kept getting turned away.
Meanwhile, Victor’s depth and skill was on full display any time it had the ball. Alex Mabbett, Sam Lambert, Mitchell Cain, Andrew Russell and Joey Pezzamenti all notched goals following Ierlan’s memorable dash before the first quarter was done.
Not until early in the second period did ESM, trailing 6-0, get on the board with back-to-back goals from Tim Crouse and Dan Boland less than a minute apart, but it proved a temporary reprieve.
Angry that it had allowed anything, Victor scored five times in a span of less than 3 1/2 minutes to erase any notion that the Spartans could keep up with them, making the margin 11-2 going into halftime.
Whether it was its speed, or skill, or discipline, or beating ESM to the ground balls, McCoy said that the Blue Devils were, by a wide margin, the best team the Spartans had dealt with all season.
Much of the second half was spent by ESM trying to prevent Victor from getting to the 12-goal margin necessary for a running clock Boland added a goal in the third quarter to help this cause,
But Victor frustrated post-season heroes like Gavin Houghtaling, Lance Madonna and Derrek Madonna throughout the game, holding each of them without a single point, and it still got to the running clock when Camden Hay put in his fourth goal early in the final period.
ESM finished its season 16-4. It already had done something unprecedented with back-to-back sectional titles, but it could not quite match the 2001 team that made it all the way to the title game before falling to Wantagh.
Key seniors like Boland, Anzalone, Gannon Abreu, Derrek Madonna and Andrew Caramanna graduate, but lots of talent comes back in 2019, from Houghtaling and Lance Madonna on the attack to Crouse and Luke Rosaschi in the midfield, plus defenders Robert Wolfe, Justin Smith and Michael Cox.
McCoy said that his team “got a taste” of getting to the elite level of lacrosse in this state and, with so many top players back next spring, the intent is to go a bit further – and perhaps win it all.