With all of the regular-season work done, field hockey teams from Fayetteville-Manlius and East Syracuse Minoa are ready to tackle their respective Section III playoff brackets, each of them as no. 1 seeds.
The Hornets are headed directly into next Monday’s semifinals, where it will face the winner of an opening-round game between no. 4 seed Baldwinsville and no. 5 seed Auburn.
The other semifinal will pit no. 2 seed Rome Free Academy against no. 3 seed Cicero-North Syracuse, with the finals set for Nov. 3 at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill.
F-M had planned on a busier schedule last week, but heavy rains postponed a Wednesday game against Cortland and affected other contests, too.
It was still chilly Friday afternoon when F-M hosted Cazenovia, but the Hornets handled those conditions and earned a 2-0 shutout over the Lakers.
Though Cazenovia, who shared the OHSL regular-season title with Weedsport, had long stretches where it contained F-M, the Hornets still broke through with goals by Lucy Fowler and Sofia Melfi, with Nora Wilson picking up an assist.
ESM, meanwhile, enters the Class B sectional tournament as a top seed. As with Class A, it’s a five-team field, with the Spartans waiting to see if no. 4 seed Whitesboro or no. 5 seed New Hartford wins on Wednesday afternoon.
Then ESM will play that survivor next Tuesday in the semifinals at Central Valley Academy, where no. 2 seed and defending champion Holland Patent takes on no. 3 seed Cortland. As with Class A, the finals are Nov. 3 at VVS.
