ONONDAGA COUNTY – For the Fayetteville-Manlius boys soccer team, events were swirling beyond its climb to no. 2 in the latest state Class AA rankings as it now knew that long-time head coach Jeff Hammond would step down at season’s end.
Hammond made the decision late in September, having coached the Hornets since 1989. His teams have won more than 500 games in that span and amassed 14 sectional championships.
Entering the regular-season homestretch, F-M handled Corcoran 7-0 last Tuesday night, powered by a three-pronged attack.
Nino Pagano added three more goals and got two assists. Michael OuYang and Evan Terreri both scored twice for the first time this season, with assists going to Terreri, Ryan Freyer, Antoine Aombe, Sam Razmjou and Jacob Mohamamed,
F-M was impressive again on Thursday, blanking Liverpool 4-0 with a second-half surge that followed an uneven start.
Pagano’s two goals gave him 24 for the season as he added an assist. Tyler Goodman earned one goal and one assist, with Stephen Probst also finding the net as Terreri and Riley Warren-Nichols gained assists.
As for Manlius Pebble Hill, it was quite glad to have the pressure off after coach Don Ridall reached 600 career wins in the Trojans’ 3-2 victory over Tully on Sept. 29.
Back in action last Monday at Bishop Ludden, MPH fought past the Gaelic Knights 1-0, getting the only goal it needed from Ayman El-Hindi in the second half off a feed from Dash Goode. The Trojans held Ludden to just three shots.
Then MPH beat rival Faith Heritage 3-1 on Thursday as Goode, Andrew Warren and Chance Mugabe each put in goals with assists credited to Jack Hogan and Evan Cook. Ryan Kinane finished with five saves.
Bishop Grimes was close in last Wednesday’s game against Tully, but lost 1-0 to the Black Knights as Connor Bastedo earned the game’s only goal.
Then, challenging state Class C no. 5-ranked Fabius-Pompey on Saturday, the Cobras were shut out again, 2-0. as Sam Taylor got one goal for the Falcons and assisted on the other, by Michael Reidl.
