VERONA – Again on the last Sunday of October, the Cicero-North Syracuse field hockey team will find itself on the turf at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill with only Rome Free Academy standing between itself and a Section III Class A championship.
More than anything else, Liverpool wanted to join C-NS (a team it split a pair of 2-1 game with) in that sectional final, but the no. 3 seed Warriors’ title dreams were upended Tuesday at VVS in a wild 5-4 semifinal defeat to no. 2 RFA.
When these two teams had met earlier in the month, the Black Knights beat the Warriors 2-0. The rematch proved far different, Liverpool going in front three different times, yet unable to hold any of those leads.
After a scoreless first quarter, things picked up when Mia Berthoff, off a penalty corner, fired home a goal a minute into the second period. Then Berthoff made it 2-0 when, after an RFA foul on a scoring attempt, Berthoff converted the penalty stroke.
Near the midway point of the quarter, it was the Black Knights’ turn, a penalty corner leading to Alexa Thompson’s goal. Then, with three minutes left in the half, Danielle Kopek’s goal forged a 2-2.
What happened in the last seconds of the half proved pivotal. Berthoff converted again, firing from a screen 10 yards to complete a natural hat trick.
But just when it looked like the Warriors would take a 3-2 lead to the break, its own foul on an RFA scramble led to a penalty stroke with three seconds left that Isibeal McMahon put past Jenna Hayes.
Thus, when Gianna Carbone scored just 19 seconds into the third quarter, Liverpool only had restored a one-goal edge, which the Black Knights again erased 90 seconds later on Kopek’s second goal.
McMahon returned to convert at the 10:39 mark of the period, and RFA led for the first time all night. From there, the Warriors’ defense did settle down, Hayes working her total to nine saves.
However, the Black Knights proved even more stubborn, rarely letting Liverpool earn opportunities to get back even all through a tense fourth quarter and earning its return trip to the sectional fall
Contrasting all this was the way C-NS methodically worked through its sectional semifinal against no. 5 seed Baldwinsville, dominating on both sides in a 3-0 win over the Bees.
Having already beat B’ville twice in the regular season by 1-0 and 5-1 margins, the Northstars’ bigger concern was how it would fare in its first game action in 11 days.
A first-quarter goal allayed those fears, and two more would follow before halftime, C-NS seeing three different players convert as Gabby Wameling, Paige Pangaro and Isabel Normanly all earned goals and Addie Esce added an assist.
Rarely did the ball get out of the Bees’ end, and though B’ville goalie Chloe Butler did make nine saves, she could not help relieve pressure that C-NS applied until its return to the sectional final was secure.
C-NS beat RFA 2-0 on Sept. 22, the Black Knights’ only loss of the regular season. The final is a rematch of the 2022 Class A title game that the Northstars pulled out 3-2, rallying from a 2-0 deficit in the second half, on the way to ultimately reaching the state championship game.
