Spring sports season to kick off Sunday

ADAMS, New York (WWNY) - The 2023 spring high school sports season kicks off Sunday with a Boys’ NAC Lacrosse contest between Canton and Massena at SUNY Canton.

Some area teams are getting ready for the season ahead with some scrimmages taking place around the area on Saturday.

At South Jeff, the Spartans held a 4 team scrimmage on the turf with the host Spartans, Indian River, Canton and Fulton all taking part.

It’s also a chance for the officials to hone their skills for the upcoming campaign.

The coaches who took part in Saturday morning’s scrimmage in Adams say this is a good chance to see some different players in different positions and get some final work in before league play begins.

”It’s really nice to have 3 other teams agree to come here. This is the first scrimmage we’ve actually been able to host on this new turf. Having these guys come down, everybody’s excited just to be out on the field and get a chance to play today,” said South Jeff Coach Randy Fuller.

”We’ll get some different looks. Get us prepared and it’s a good chance to get us up and down because we’ve only been on the turf since like Tuesday so it’s good to be out here,” said Indian River Coach Nathan Davis.

”Yeah, we actually kick off our 1st gem tomorrow. It’s a good test, you know, we like coming down and see how we stack up versus Section 3. We have 4 pretty good schools here, so we’re definitely excited about it. This is our first scrimmage. The boys have been looking forward to it for a long time. We’re happy to be here,” said Canton Coach Jeff Meyers.

One of the favorites to repeat in Boys’ Frontier League Lacrosse is the Watertown Cyclones.

The Cyclones begin their quest for another title on Monday when they travel to Cape Vincent to meet Thousand Islands.

Watertown is a veteran team with high hopes for the 2023 campaign.

Coach Brian Navarra’s team returns all but one starter from last year’s team that posted a 13-5 overall record and 11-1 in Frontier League play.

The Cyclones captured the Frontier League Championship and lost in the Section 3 Class B Championship game. And with a veteran group, the Cyclones are a heavy favorite to take home another Frontier League title in 2023.

”You know, we’re really excited this year. We return basically everybody from last year. We lost one defender, so that was the only starter we lost. Everybody else has experience and everybody’s back, so we’re really excited,” said Watertown Lacrosse Coach Brian Navarra.

The Cyclones return five 20+ goals scorers this year, led by senior Jack Clough who scored 49 goals last year.

The Cyclones averaged just over 11 goals a contest last year and their defense was equally impressive, holding opponents to just over 7 goals a game.

According to the players, teams can expect that balance from both sides of the ball once again this year.

”I think we’re very well balanced. We have a great defensive core, only lost one defense guy. Our offense is also amazing, so I think we’re very versatile both ways,” said senior defender Joe Girardi.

”I think we’re a very well rounded team. We have great offensive players and great defensive players ,and I think we’re pretty good all around,” said senior goalie Patrick Duah.

Coming up one game short from winning a sectional title has motivated the players in the off season, and Navarra says if the Cyclones hope to reach their goals of another Frontier League title and a sectional championship, his team can’t take anything for granted each and every game.

”Frontier League is gonna be very competitve this year. South Jeff, Carthage, General Brown and us I think will battle for that top spot. Every game is gonna be a tough game. Very physical teams, General Brown’s gonna be very physical. If we keep our heads, if we play smart, we play as a team, I think we’ll end up in good shape. Sectionals are also gonna be very tough. Class B is extremely tough with West Genny and FM and CBA now in Class B. It’s a tough class, but watch the NCAA tournament this year in basketball and you see anything can happen. We’re focusing on just believing every day that we can win sectionals and we gotta work hard every day to achieve that accomplishment,” said Navarra.

Look for the Cyclones to bring their “A” game each and every contest as they look to once again be atop the Frontier League standings in 2023.

In men’s college lacrosse from Canton, the Roos hosted Husson.

In the 1st period, SUNY Canton was down 3-0 when Caeden Goodnough dents net: SUNY Canton down 3-1.

A bit later, Logan McCargar splits the pipes, pulling the Roos to within 1 at 3-2.

In the 2nd period, the Roos were down 4-3 when Goodnough goes top shelf for his 2nd of the game, knotting the score at 4.

With under 30 seconds left, the Roos were down 1 when Kyle Fingar knots the game at 11.

But the Roos lose a heartbreaker, falling to Husson 12-11 in double overtime.

Longtime Clarkson Baseball Coach Jim Kane reached a milestone on March 15th when the Golden Knights beat Emerson College. The win was Kane’s 400th.

Kane has been the Golden Knights’ coach for 22 seasons and has eleven 20 win seasons along with 15 appearances in the Liberty League Tournament.

He is the winningest coach in Clarkson baseball history and says winning 400 games is an achievement that he’s proud of.

”It really wasn’t on my mind. I knew about it, of course, but I was more concerned about trying to get our team to play a little bit better. When it happened, it was really cool, pretty emotional day. I returned just a ton of texts and emails following up on that day. It was just really nice. I know on the website there was nice videos from former players. It was really cool. 400′s great, but I think what was more important to me was really trying to get our team to move in a better direction and hopefully we can start doing that this weekend. We’ll see,” said Kane.

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