In a 48-hour span, the Liverpool field hockey team’s profile has soared, as has its ability to face adversity and respond with confidence.
Two days after handing Weedsport its first loss of the season, the Warriors went to Bragman Stadium Wednesday night and, pushed into overtime, prevailed 2-1 on Kelly Bergamo’s goal late in the extra period.
These neighbors and rivals met at an interesting intersection of their respective seasons. Liverpool was 3-0, while C-NS was 1-2.
Yet Northstars head coach Pat Kennedy remained confident in his teams, saying that this reminded him of 2014, when C-NS started 1-4 before a victory in Rome Free Academy’s tournament sparked an eventual run to the Section III Class A championship.
Liverpool, accustomed to championship runs, gained a quick edge on the Northstars. The Warriors’ first sustained attack led to a penalty corner and, at the 6:53 mark, a 1-0 lead when, off a deflection of the original shot, Bri Socker passed back to the middle and Meghan Bailey deflected the ball into the net.
Three other times in the first half, the Warriors had penalty corners it could not convert, and its defense deflected everything C-NS threw at them, a trend that continued deep into the second half.
To its credit, the Northstars made sure Liverpool did not attack much during the game’s latter stages, hoping that, at some point, it could crack through the Warriors’ back line led by senior Carrie Cosco and freshman Jillian Chilbert.
As regulation time wound down, C-NS upped its pressure and created a penalty corner. And with 1:17 to play, Julia McDonough’s pass found Allison Bartlett, who slipped it past Katie Yudin to tie it, 1-1.
In the seven-on-seven OT period that followed, Liverpool missed on three penalty corners. But just after the Northstars could not convert its own chance, the Warriors tore down the field, and the ball went to Bergamo.
Before Northstars goalie Julia Lantry could react, Bergamo slid a hard shot home for the game-winner, and already C-NS was planning on payback in an Oct. 7 rematch at LHS Stadium.
Liverpool was showing good form every time it took the field. And that included last Monday’s visit to LHS Stadium from Weedsport, the reigning Section III Class D champions who had roared out to a 6-0 start.
Unimpressed by any of this, Liverpool won this Warrior clash by a 3-0 margin, attacking from the start and, more important, converting, once in the second half and twice more in the second half.
Spreading the production around, Liverpool saw three different players – Hayley Vivenzo, Meghan Bailey and Lexi Penge – earn the three goals. Socker and Nikki Wilson added assists.
It wasn’t that Weedsport was bereft of opportunities or penalty corners. Many different times, the visitors had chance, but Liverpool’s defense turned them back, and Yudin was particularly good, kicking away all 11 shots she faced. Weedsport goalie Nicole Soutar had 13 saves.
Liverpool gets another test Monday from F-M, who entered with a four-game win streak after edging Baldwinsville 1-0, and C-NS would meet Class C powerhouse Cazenovia that same night before going to B’ville two days later.
