Birmingham ends Palisades’ run of City Section dominance in boys lacrosse

One Dolphins dynasty continued while another came to an end Thursday night at Palisades High.

Two and a half hours after Palisades’ girls team captured its fourth straight City Section lacrosse championship with a 20-8 trouncing of Birmingham, Palisades boys saw their streak of nine consecutive titles snapped in a 5-4 loss to the same school.

Birmingham’s boys had split two regular-season meetings with Palisades, losing the first 6-5 and winning the second 5-4 in overtime and the rubber match was just as closely contested and even more physical.

After Palisades’ Aidean Stuempfig scored to tie it 4-4 early in the fourth quarter, Jayden Ruiz’s goal put the visitors back in front with 6:43 left. Patriots goalie Christopher Cortes had a heroic performance, stopping an astounding 24 shots — the last coming one second before the final horn.

“Our team is amazing — we came here to win this and we did,” said Cortes, a sophomore who gave up soccer to take up lacrosse. “I like the adrenaline you get as a goalie and the feeling that you’re helping your team out. Even when I got scored on, I didn’t let it get to me.”

Alexander Manton scored to tie it 1-1 in the first quarter. His second goal gave Birmingham a 3-1 lead in the second quarter. Albert Zometa and Brandon Lopez also scored for Birmingham (10-7), which upset Palisades 9-4 in 2015 for its only other City title.

Nate Silberberg gave the Dolphins (7-6) a 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the contest and scored again to narrow his team’s deficit to 4-3 late in the third quarter. Goalie Charlie Balatbat had eight saves for the Dolphins, who downed Birmingham 12-7 in the inaugural City final in 2014.

The preceding girls game was not nearly as dramatic. Palisades got five goals each from freshmen Emma Traister and Lulu Rotter, and senior Mae Resnick added three to finish the season with 80 goals as the Dolphins (14-7-1) won by the widest margin ever in a City girls final, topping the 10-goal difference when Birmingham beat Palisades 11-1 in 2015.

Valeria Ruelas, Alexsa Blunt and Camila Ruelas each scored twice for second-seeded Birmingham (9-13).

Palisades and Birmingham have each won five girls titles. Palisades’ boys and girls programs have appeared in every final since the City officially sanctioned lacrosse as a varsity sport 12 years ago.