Cortland Standard .net

By TANEY BEAUMONT
Staff Writer
That thing they say about won-lost records going out the window when rivals get together?
In the case of Thursday night’s boys’ lacrosse game between Homer Central and Cortland High on Moiseichik Field on the Purple Tigers’ Senior Night, the records went out the window and kept right on going.
Trojans senior attack Anthony Basile scored the winning goal off an assist from classmate and fellow attack Brad Sovocool with 1:11 left and junior goalie Mark Suits made two key saves in the last minute as the visitors earned an 11-10 OHSL Freedom National Division win.
Homer is now 8-1 in the league and clinched at least a tie for the championship with the win, the Trojans improving to 9-5 overall. The Purple Tigers, meanwhile, are now 4-5 in league play and 5-9 overall.
The contest was close all the way, with seven ties and three lead changes. In fact, Cortland grabbed its last lead with 3:37 left when senior midfielder Mike May scored from deep on the right side after a spin move to make it 10-9 for the hosts. Homer tied the game with 2:15 left as senior attack Dean Riley came out on a slant from the left corner, dove and found the back of the net behind CHS sophomore goalie Cameron Aldrich.
Trojans senior midfielder Chris Birchenough then prevailed for the 11th time in 13 second-half faceoffs — including all seven in the third quarter — and Homer coach Tom Cottrell called a timeout with 2:06 left.
The Trojans worked the ball around until Sovocool was able to find Basile on the doorstep for his fourth goal of the game and 35th of the season His first tally was the 100th of his varsity career.
“Brad made a great pass and I was able to put it in,” Basile said of his game-winner. “Cortland came out with a lot of fire on their Senior Night, but we came together as a team in the fourth quarter and found a way to win.”
AFTER BASILE’S deciding goal, Purple Tigers junior midfielder Connor Caughey, who scored four goals on the night and now has 18 this spring, took the ensuing faceoff, raced down the field and took a shot from around 10 yards out that Suits was able to deflect. Junior midfielder Joe Piedigrossi cranked a high shot that also found Suits up to the task with 28 seconds left, Purple Tigers coach Matt Blaich calling a timeout at that point.
“I was extremely focused.” Suits said. “The team needed me and I stepped up and did what I had to do for us to win. I was just seeing the ball well.”
Caughey was ready to start play back up after the timeout but was found to have blood on his leg, which forced him to the sidelines since CHS didn’t have any timeouts left. Homer senior midfielder Danny Turck was able to control a loose ball and get it out to midfield, from where the Trojans advanced the ball further downfield and were able to run out the clock.
“I think they expect to win,” Cottrell said of his team. “They find a way to win. “The coaches didn’t have to say a whole lot in the fourth quarter (which started with Homer on top 8-7). The seniors stepped up and provided leadership in the huddle and on the field. Actually, the whole team stepped up and found a way to get it done.
“We’re fortunate to have Chris (who won 15 of 23 faceoffs to lead the winners to a 16-8 advantage in that category) for four years. He was our faceoff man the last two seasons, got a late start this year and is rounding into shape for us. He’s worked hard at it and been huge for us. And it isn’t likely we would have won without the way Mark played in goal.”
“We’ve become a better team all the way around since we played them the first time,” said Cortland coach Matt Blaich, whose team fell to the Trojans 18-6 in Homer back on April 21. “We played better team lacrosse tonight than we did the first time against them. At halftime (with CHS up 5-4) we told them they had to do the boring fundamental stuff. This is one of the better games we’ve played in my four years here. We played team lacrosse, and the defense played great.
“Not having Connor, one of our go-to guys, at the end kind of hurt. The loss is disappointing, but I’m proud of this team 100 percent. They fought all the way to the end, and we can take the good and the bad into our next game,” he added.
CAUGHEY OPENED the scoring 2:12 into the game before Sovocool converted a pass from Basile with 6:02 left in the first. Basile made it 2-1 Homer, which was the score at the end of the first stanza, with 1:57 left off a pass from Riley. Caughey knotted the game at 2-2 42 seconds into the second quarter, the assist going to senior midfielder Mike May, before Homer scored the next two goals to go up 4-2. Basile scored from Riley 1:20 in and Riley then converted a pass from Sovocool at 7:47.
Cortland then went on a three-goal tear to take its 5-4 halftime lead. Junior attack Chris Dovi was assisted by senior attack Anthony Ricottilli at 4:09, and junior midfielder Bronson Gagliano’s unassisted tally made it 4-4 at 3:27. Caughey then scored off an assist from Dovi 2:18 before halftime.
Homer came out the gate quickly n the third quarter, Sovocool scoring off a pass from Riley to make it a 5-5 game 22 seconds in. May gave the hosts the lead back at 10:01 before Turck tied it unassisted at 8:46. Homer then went ahead 7-6 as Sovocool shook a defender and scored unassisted at 7:10, but Caughey retied it with his own unassisted goal at 3:30. Basile closed out the scoring in the third with just nine seconds left, Riley with the assist.
Sovocool scored 43 seconds into the fourth, assisted by junior midfielder Dylan Williams-Bachman, to give the visitors a 9-7 lead. It was 9-9 after CHS scored the next two, senior midfielder Trae Libbey from Ricottilli at 7:23 and Gagliano unassisted at 5:41.
The set the stage for May’s second of the game to give Cortland its last lead before the Trojans’ late-game rally. Basile finished with four goals and two assists while Sovocool had four goals (for 24 this season) and an assist and Riley two goals (for a team-high 38) and four assists. Mike May had two goals and an assist and Gagliano two goals to complement Caughey for Cortland.
CORTLAND SENIOR attack Matt May — Mike’s twin brother — came into the game with 39 goals but was held without a point. “Paddy McSherry (senior defenseman) did a nice job on him,” Cottrell said. Drew Cottrell (another senior defenseman) held Ricottilli to two assists, both in unsettled situations, and we wanted to take Piedigrossi out at midfielder and were able to. Those were the guys we wanted to slow down, and we did a good job. To Cortland’s credit, others stepped up.
“Our main goal every year is to win all of our games against our side of the division, and with tonight’s win we did that.”
Both teams are on the road Monday in 4:30 p.m. starts, Cortland at Chittenango and Homer in a non-leaguer against LaFayette.
HOMER JVs beat Cortland 17-4 to improve to 10-2 on the season as Jake Riley led the way with four goals, Tucker O’Donnell had two goals and four assists and four players — Jared Berry, Dante Yacavone, Ethan Stiles and Kevin Bush — scored twice each. Vinny Basile, Lars Roos and Ethan Whittington scored one goal apiece and goalie Mike Turck made five saves. The winners led 11-2 after the first quarter and never looked back.
Cortland, now winless in 11 games, got two goals from Rory Hines and one each from Justin Gower and Kiegan Brown. Goalie Jack Davie stopped five shots.
Homer’s JVs close out the season at Oswego Wednesday in a 5 p.m. start. Cortland’s JVs visit Chittenango Monday, also at 5 p.m.