LIVERPOOL – Every Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse girls soccer fan can easily recall how, in 2021, the Warriors rose up and stunned the undefeated Northstars in the Section III Class AA semifinals.
That can’t happen this time, since the two rivals found themselves on opposite ends of the 2022 sectional bracket and could only meet in the Nov. 1 championship match.
However, two things are the same from a year ago – C-NS has a bye straight into the semifinals, this time as the no. 2 seed, while Liverpool, as the no. 4 seed, will need to upend a top seed in order to reach the finals.
Of course, the Warriors first had to get past Friday’s opening-round match against no. 5 seed Rome Free Academy, and getting a pair of early goals, Liverpool knocked out the Black Knights 2-0.
From a scoring and competitive nature, the game was not as lopsided as the 4-0 decision Liverpool earned at RFA Stadium in early September.
Still, it took less than 17 minutes to establish the winning margin. Just before the nine-minute mark, Alexa Marsh’s sharp pass freed up Grace Muller to run up the middle and push a low shot past Black Knights goalkeeper Miranda McCormick.
Before RFA could settle down, it turned the ball over deep in its own end, freeing Ciarra Fox to take a pass from Marsh and put home the second goal.
To her credit McCormick stopped everything else, finishing with nine saves, and the Black Knights would threaten from time to time against an otherwise stellar Warriors defense.
By far, the best chance for RFA came in the 52nd minute, when a free kick left an open header that Amelia Furbeck guided just over the net.
Handling it the rest of the way, the Warirors advanced to next Wednesday’s sectional semifinal in Camillus against no. 1 seed West Genesee, with whom it split two regular-season meetings.
Meanwhile, C-NS will host no. 3 seed and defending champion Fayetteville-Manlius in the other semifinal, looking to turn around 1-0 and 4-2 defeats to the Hornets earlier this fall.
