For the first time since 2008, the Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool field hockey teams will settle the Section III Class A championship among themselves.
The two neighbors and rivals got to this showdown through impressive finishes to their respective sectional semifinals, with the top-seeded Northstars getting away from Fayetteville-Manlius 3-1 and the Warriors unleashing its attack on no. 2 seed Baldwinsville to win by that exact same margin.
These games had their own unique character, though. C-NS, who hasn’t won a sectional title since 2006, was burning to play F-M, the no. 4 seed, who had beaten them 1-0 in the 2013 championship game at Rome Free Academy Stadium.
It just so happened that this semifinal would take place on that same Rome turf, with the Hornets confident that it could turn around a 2-0 defeat to C-NS just seven days before their playoff rematch, and prevail just as it had done last fall and in a 2-1 decision in early September.
For a long while, the Northstars had a reason to be nervous. An exchange of first-half goals left C-NS and F-M even, 1-1, and they went through most of the second half still tied, the possibility of overtime quite real.
Then Megan Caveny stepped up and delivered C-NS’s biggest goal of the season to date, putting one past F-M netminder Caroline Baril with 7:40 to play. Minutes later, the Northstars tacked on an insurance goal, and the path to the title game was clear.
A day later, amid wind, rain and cold temperatures at East Syracuse-Minoa’s Spartan Stadium, Liverpool met up with a Baldwinsville team with which it split a pair of 2-1 decisions in September.
Neither team had played for more than a week, so a vast majority of the first half was spent on futile runs and warming up amid wind, cold temperatures and rain. Whenever B’ville attacked, Liverpool defenders Viktorya Tubolino, Rachel Metzler, Darian Hurwitz and Kayleigh Young would turn shots away, and goalie Megan Evangelista made a pair of key saves, too.
The dearth of real opportunities led to a 0-0 deadlock going to the second half, and an increased meaning to whoever could break through and get on the board.
Just 6:36 into the second half, that goal arrived. Liverpool was unable to convert a penalty corner, but seconds later the Bees turned it over, and with another chance to fire away, Meghan Bailey beat B’ville goalie Kaitlyn Gee to put the Warriors in front.
Even more devastating was that, less than 90 seconds later, the Warroirs’ lead doubled off another penalty corner, where Lindsay Bergano take a pass from Brianna Socker and rip a hard shot that Gee could not stop.
Midway through the second half, Nikki Wilson added to B’ville’s woes, putting in the Warriors’ third goal. That all but ended the suspense, though B’ville kept working to the finish and Mackenzie Carhart pushed in a goal just before time expired.
Now Liverpool and C-NS will make their way back to RFA Stadium on Saturday, the Northstars seeking to end its eight-year title drought as the Warriors want a third sectiional championship in the last four seasons.
