With first-year head coach Stephanie Prentice at the helm this spring, the Cicero-North Syracuse girls lacrosse team has come a long way from its 1-15 campaign a couple of years ago. The Northstars traveled to face South Jefferson on Saturday afternoon and came away with an 11-9 victory, one that bettered their mark this season to 5-1.
Not only was it the fifth win already for Prentice and company, but it avenged their only defeat of the year thus far, which came at home against the Spartans on Monday by a score of 13-12.
"It was definitely huge. Every single win is huge," she said. "Getting that win back after they took it at home was huge for us."
Every game so far this season for C-NS has been decided by six goals or fewer, and after surrendering 32 goals through their first three contests, that figure has dropped to 21 over the past three games.
"Our goalie has just stepped up for us and played like a rock star," Prentice said. "She made some big saves and stepped up in some big moments today."
That goalie, sophomore Nicole Mirra, had six stops on Saturday.
On offense, Angela Beardsley led a crowded field of goal-scorers for the Northstars with a hat trick, and Brooke Molchanoff had a team-high four points on two goals and two assists. Francesca Tortora added two scores and one helper, Mackenzie Prentice scored once and had two assists, and Victoria Iannotti led all players with three assists.
In the loss – South Jefferson's first of the year after four straight wins – Karsyn Burnash had four goals and one assist and Julia Garvin added a trio of goals and a pair of helpers.
"We came hungry and wanted to compete and bring home the win today," Prentice said.
