Cortland Standard .net

By TOM VARTANIAN
Staff Writer
Homer Central lacrosse boys played well enough to win, but Alex Calkins atoned for a late game mistake to score the winning overtime goal for visiting Syracuse CBA on Thursday night.
Calkins gave the Brothers an 8-6 lead early in the fourth quarter at Butts Field, but Homer tied the game up with 1:25 left in regulation.
The Trojans had a chance to win in overtime when Calkins turned the ball over in front of the Syracuse CBA goal. Homer couldn’t capitalize and the sophomore midfielder converted in transition with a low shot into the left corner of the goal with one minute left in overtime for the 9-8 non-league victory. The loss leaves the Trojans 7-5 on the season.
It was the fourth win in a row for Syracuse CBA (8-3) and second straight overtime win on the heels of their 11-10 extra-time victory over Westhill Tuesday.
“I was nervous because I made the turnover to give them a chance,” Calkins said. “I was scared because the ball did go in front of the goal. I knew I had to capitalize on my chance. I didn’t want to let my teammates down and be the reason we lost the game.
“We felt comfortable with the two goal lead,” he added. “We let down a little, but we got it back together and played well overall.”
“It seems to be the two-goal leads in the fourth quarter are not good for us,” Syracuse CBA coach Ric Beardsley said. “Maybe we need a 10-goal lead at this point. I knew Homer was an excellent team. When you have that many one-goal losses, those games could go either way. They have played some great teams in those one-goal games. I wasn’t coming here expecting to win easily. They are well coached and disciplined. They have the players to win a state championship. Homer will be tough if we face them again. We got lucky today.”
Beardsley had confidence in Calkins to score the winning goal.
“Why I went to Alex on that final goal was because he went left on his dodge when the ball was stripped,” he continued. “He dodges to his right very well. He did that for the last goal. I had my utmost confidence in Alex and I have that in all my guys. I’m not easy on them. I think we are finally proving to ourselves that we are a pretty good team. All we can try to do is keep getting better. We made some mistakes and we’ll work on them.”
HOMER HEAD COACH Tom Cottrell wasn’t happy with the loss, but he wasn’t disappointed in his team’s effort either.
“I thought it was a fantastic high school lacrosse game,” Cottrell said. “It was two good teams getting towards playoff time. I think each team is playing better each time out.
“Our kids did have a great effort today,” he continued. “It really was just that third quarter for us. We got shut out in that quarter after leading at halftime. They got the two-goal advantage, but our kids came back with hustle and intensity. We had some real nice transition plays. That was one of our best riding and clearing games of the season. The kids are working hard, but they are not getting the reward of the ‘W.’ This was a much improved effort over what we have been putting out there.”
One big thing that both teams had working for them today were the goalkeepers. CBA sophomore Matt Vavonese made 12 saves for the Brothers, including a couple of point-blank shots late in the fourth quarter. Trojan junior netminder Mark Suits stopped 10 shots also a game-saving stop with 1:12 left in regulation time seconds after brother Matt Suits tied the game at 8-8 with 1:25 to go.
“Homer’s goalie was on point all game long,” Beardsley said. “The scouting report said he was weak if you shot at him. I personally did not see that today. He is a very good goalie. He did a great job.
“Matt’s done a nice job for us all season long.” he added. “He has come up big for us in a number of clutch situations this season.”
“Mark played very well,” Cottrell said of goalie Suits. “It was a real solid game for him. He not only stopped the ball, but he cleared the ball well. He made good decision and was active. That’s a big part of being a goalie and I think he really is becoming a better varsity goalie.”
HOMER JUMPED TO a 2-0 lead in the first quarter as Anthony Basile found the net twice with Dean Riley assisting both times.
CBA recorded its first goal with 2:14 left in the quarter. With Drew Cottrell guarding him tightly, Jack Jeschke made a nice spin and got this shot in the goal.
Lincoln McGarrity tied the game at 2-2 just 35 seconds into the second quarter.
From there on, the two teams traded goals with Homer going ahead 6-5 by halftime. Basile scored his third goal off a third Riley assist with 8:17 left in the half. Brad Sovocool netted a fast-break goal off a Joey Rivers pass (7:33) Brody Urban connected off a Riley assist (2:56) and Jerrad Reiner delivered a nice bounce shot into the goal with Sovocool assisting. CBA goals came from Jace Whalen, Jeschke and Sam Martin.
McGarrity’s second goal of the game came with 7:53 left in the third quarter and Martin found the upper left corner for his second tally to put the Brothers up 7-6 with 23.9 seconds left in the quarter.
After Calkins put CBA up 8-6 with 6:12 to play in regulation time, Homer went to work with purpose. Riley collected a loose ball off a turnover and found a streaking Sovocool heading towards the goal. Riley made the connection pass for his fifth assist and Sovocool found the opening with 3:12 to go as Homer pulled to within 8-7. With 1:25 left, Matt Suits took advantage off a loose ball in front of the CBA cage and fired the ball into the goal to tie the match and force overtime.
THE CBA COACH DID offer this final closing thoughts on a tough Homer team.
“We knew the Basile-Riley connection was dangerous,” Beardsley said in closing. “We played them at an arms-length to try and keep them from passing the ball. I thought Lynch Raby did a nice job on that number 11 (Sovocool), but that kid can grind. It seems like he never gets tired. I want what he has.”
“I appreciate any good comments our guys get,” Cottrell said. “There was a reason we wanted to play these tough games in the regular season. We don’t expect to be playing our best lacrosse right now. We expect to get better each game. We will have seen all these good Class C schools by playoff time and we expect to learn something at this point. Our record is a little different this year, but our level of competition is much better. This is making us better and it should pay dividends at playoff time.”
Homer will return to OHSL Freedom Division action Tuesday hosting Marcellus at 7 p.m. on the Senior Night for the final regular season home game.
HOMER JVs will host CBA this afternoon at 5 p.m.