Plenty of important matches awaited the field hockey teams at Fayetteville-Manlius and East Syracuse Minoa as the calendar turned from September to October, including a head-to-head neighborhood clash last Friday afternoon.

But the game quickly turned into a showcase for the Hornets, who capped off a week full of strong efforts by stopping the Spartans 8-0 and improving its record to 9-2-1 in the process.

Attacking at will, F-M steadily built a 5-0 advantage by halftime, and did not let up one bit. Melissa Bucklin and Lauren Glazier each produced two goals and one assist, with Sophie Craig also scoring twice.

Megan Josephson and Christine Carter-Huffman had the other goals as Molly Quinlan contributed a pair of assists. Combined, the Hornets’ pair of goalies, Caroline Baril and Charlotte Monsour, made seven saves, with Spartans counterpart Taylor Cassella getting seven saves.

F-M came into the ESM game with a lot of confidence. Two nights earlier, at Bragman Stadium, the Hornets met Cicero-North Syracuse and the two sides jointly held a “Stick It to Cancer” fund-raiser for Griffin’s Guardians, an organization dedicated to fighting childhood cancer in Central New York.

As to the game, the Hornets blanked the Northstars 2-0, adding to the 1-0 shutout it recorded against C-NS on Sept. 9. First-half goals by Craig and Josephson proved sufficient, with Carter-Huffman adding an assist. F-M’s defense took over from there, limiting C-NS to one direct shot all night.

Two days before that, F-M played Homer and put up lots of goals in a 7-0 romp over the Trojans. Already up 2-0 at halftime, the Hornets picked up its pace and didn’t let up until Craig, Carter-Huffman and Reilly Baker each scored twice, with Carter-Huffman adding two assists. Quinlan had the other goal as Josephson got two assists and Elizabeth Truman earned a single assist.

The loss to F-M was ESM’s third game in a six-day span, and the only reason it wasn’t more was because last Tuesday’s visit to Weedsport got postponed by heavy rains.

For the Spartans, the week started with a thriller at home against the same C-NS side that F-M would beat later in the week, where ESM rallied late to force overtime, but could not complete the comeback in a 3-2 defeat to the Northstars.

They exchanged goals in the first half, Katina Shiomos getting on the board for ESM. Then C-NS took a 2-1 lead early in the second half, and tried to hang on – but Shiomos returned to strike for her second goal with five minutes left in regulation.

A 2-2 tie meant they would play a 10-minute, seven-on-seven overtime period, and it took just 2:12 for C-NS to notch the game-winner, negating the seven saves that Cassella put up. Emma Schafer assisted on one of the Shiomos goals as three different Northstars – Taylor Lessard, Cara Binaxas and Abbey Szumloz – found the net, and Nessa McKie earned a pair of assists.

Right after ESM faced F-M, another game against another Class A opponent, Baldwinsville, loomed on Saturday afternoon, and this would lead to more frustration for the Spartans as it took a 2-1 defeat to the Bees.

Just eight minutes into the game, Emma Schafer’s goal had ESM in front 1-0. But that lead would not hold up, as twice in the early portion of the second half the Bees finished off attacks, Amanda Strenk netting one goal and assisting on the other, by Maria McCaffrey.

Though a lot of time remained, B’ville’s defense again made a small lead last until the end, helped in no small part by Abigail Timmins’ six saves. Cassella got seven saves, though the Spartans fell to 4-7 in advance of games this week again st Port Byron, Auburn and Cazenovia. F-M would host B’ville Monday and Whitesboro on Friday.