As they do each fall, the Fayetteville-Manlius and Christian Brothers Academy soccer programs gathered together for a doubleheader, this time held under the lights last Saturday at Alibrandi Stadium.

The “Red Out” event raised money for the American Heart Association in memory of Lauren Papaleo, an F-M graduate and daughter of CBA boys soccer head coach Joe Papaleo, who passed away at age 23 due to a heart-related illness three years ago.

In the girls opener, F-M pulled out a 1-0 decision over CBA, seeing Jamison Seabury’s first-half goal, assisted by Emily Murray, hold up the rest of the way. Hornets goalkeeper Sabrina Suriani stopped all 10 shots she faced, while her counterpart for the Brothers, Catherine Burns, had 11 saves.

What followed, in the boys game, was another closely-fought battle, but again it was F-M defeating CBA, this time by a 2-1 margin. They were tied, 1-1, at halftime, with Jared Saya getting the Brothers’ goal off a feed from Tobias Okongo.

Fut F-M inched in front in the second half as Jacob Koldin converted one goal and assisted on the other, by Anthony Kousmanidis. Falcone assisted on Koldin’s goal, and despite all kinds of CBA chances, Mike Baril turned back every other attempt, making 12 saves as the Brothers’ Tim Schmidt had seven saves.

CBA’s boys had just recorded its most important win of the season so far, meeting up with state Class A no. 7-ranked Fowler last Thursday afternoon and gaining a tough 1-0 victory over the Falcons.

This was, more than anything else, a tribute to the work of the Brothers’ defense, which had a slim lead to protect after a first-half scoring play where CBA, on a long throw-in, moved the ball into a scrum, and a Fowler player may have inadvertently deflected it into the net.

Unable to get anything more, the Brothers needed to fend off Fowler’s numerous attacks, especially during the second half. And it somehow did so, getting a superb performance from goalkeeper Tim Schmitt, who recorded 10 saves.

To start its week, F-M’s boys team, who had rallied past Utica Proctor 3-2 in overtime on Sept. 26, went to West Genesee last Monday and shut out the Wildcats 4-0, applying relentless pressure and pulling away in the second half after only having a 1-0 lead at the break.

Joe Falcone led that late charge, netting a pair of goals as Dan Murray earned one goal and one assist. Mike Myagkota had the other goal for the Hornets, who only allowed three shots from WG but took 18 to keep the ball in the Wildcats’ end most of the way.

It would prove tougher in Thursday night’s game at Henninger, but F-M, playing its third of four straight road games before a Tuesday showdown with Liverpool at Swan Pond, prevailed again, edging the Black Knights 2-1 to improve to 8-3 on the season.

As it turned out, a first-half goal made the difference for the Hornets, since Henninger got on the board thanks to Lay Mu Taw’s second-half tally. Mike Baril, with four saves, and his fellow F-M defenders turned back everything else, so the goals by Falcone and Seth Epling held up, Julian Razmjou adding an assist.

For the F-M girls team, last Tuesday’s game against Baldwinsville was a case of the Hornets being on the harsh end of payback delivered by the Bees in a 5-0 defeat.

No doubt, B’ville remembered that F-M had beaten them 2-1 at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium on Sept. 9. Less than three weeks later, the rematch took a different turn, the Bees roaring out to a 3-0 halftime lead and overcoming nine saves from Suriani. Five different players – Jade Gentile, Bella May, Hailey Couchman, Addison Hornsey and Adrianna Sposato – had the five B’ville goals.

Meanwhile, the CBA girls returned to action last Wednesday, at Cazenovia, where nothing got settled in a 0-0 draw and the Brothers moved to 6-3-2 on the season.

The long, tense battle covered 80 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime. Each side had multiple chances to pull out in front, with Cazenovia taking more shots, but constantly thwarted by Burns, who had 10 saves. Yet the Lakers’ defense was just as good, holding the Brothers to eight shots, all of which stopped by Hannah Matteson.