At the tail end of its appearance at the Wright National Soccer Complex in Oneonta on Sept. 11, the Fayetteville-Manlius girls soccer earned a 3-0 shutout over host Oneonta, recovering from a 1-0 defeat to Chenango Forks the day before and claiming its first win of the season.
Rachel Dobricki, with one goal and one assist, led a well-balanced Hornets attack. Ashley Carter and Mirren Galway earned the other goals, while F-M controlled the flow of play, its defense rarely letting Oneonta take any direct shots.
It would get a lot tougher in last Tuesday night’s visit to unbeaten West Genesee, who despite losing one of its top players, Grace Schnorr, to an ACL tear, remained on an offensive tear, blowing through F-M’s defenses and prevailing, 6-2, over the Hornets.
Not only had WG started 6-0, it had also scored five or more goals in its previous four games. Try as it could, F-M could not contain this lethal Wildcats attack, who established a 4-1 advantage by halftime.
Goals by Cady Barns and Brittney Cross, plus an assist from Ashley Carter, did not prove enough in the face of WG’s pressure. Only Haley Elsey scored twice for the Wildcats, adding an assist as Victoria Desantis, Emma Parry, Camryn McCarthy and Kelly Cooper also found the net, overcoming Sabrina Suriani’s six saves.
As if that wasn’t difficult enough, F-M had to face another undefeated team, defending Section III Class AA champion Baldwinsville, on Thursday in the wake of the Bees’ 3-0 shutout over previously unbeaten Liverpool.
B’ville showed little mercy on the Hornets, prevailing 4-0. Two scoring plays in each half proved more than enough as Bees freshman Simone Neivel found the net twice, while Carolyn Brussel and Graisa Madden earned the other goals. Suriani again finished with six saves.
More struggles followed on Saturday, where F-M took a 4-1 defeat to Section II power Shenendehowa. The Hornets fell to 1-5 and would have to face state-ranked Liverpool Tuesday before taking on Cicero-North Syracuse Thursday and Victor (Section V) on Saturday afternoon.
Christian Brothers Academy, who had started 0-1-1, needed a high-quality win, and got it last Monday night at Alibrandi Stadium, going to overtime to beat Cazenovia 2-1.
Coming into the game, the Lakers were 2-0 and had outscored its two opponents by a combined 15-1 margin. But when Cazenovia netted a first-half goal here, CBA did, too, leading to a stalemate that held throughout the rest of regulation.
Then, in the first of two 10-minute OT periods, the Brothers moved out in front, staying there behind a superb defense and 13 saves from goalie Catherine Burns. Sam McKenna and Amanda Winn netted CBA’s goals, with Jess Slack adding an assist. Brenna Hughes netted Cazenovia’s lone goal.
Without any time to rest, CBA visited Auburn 24 hours later, and didn’t require more than 80 minutes to put away the Maroons 3-0.
Staked to a 2-0 halftime advantage, the Brothers didn’t sit on that margin, adding another tally as Grace Hulslander ended up with two of CBA’s three goals. Jess Slack earned the other, with Maria Oliva adding an assist. Auburn had plenty of chances, but Burns and fellow goalie Sydney Benedict stopped all nine shots they faced.
Back at Alibrandi on Thursday night, CBA faced Homer, looking for its third win in a 72-hour span – but could not quite get it, settling for a 2-2 draw with the Trojans.
Even though the Brothers kept Homer off the board in the first half, it only built a 1-0 lead, not quite enough as Mollie Ferrito and Kaelyn Tallman both scored for the Trojans in the second half, tying it up to match the goals by Slack and Katy Stanard. Twenty full minutes of overtime resolved nothing, either, as Burns finished with nine saves, but Homer counterpart Anna Gugerly managed 11 saves.
A win arrived on Saturday, CBA going to Mexico and blanking the Tigers 4-0, with all of the goals coming in the first half. Hulslander converted twice, with Meghan McKeen and Amanda Winn netting the other goals. Tate Kohlbrenner and Christian Barnaba each had one assist as CBA (3-1-2) will get its shot at Jamesville-DeWitt Thursday after a Tuesday match against Fulton.
