For the second time in September, the Fayetteville-Manlius boys soccer team confronted Cicero-North Syracuse, and did not allow anything.
The Hornets, backing up its state Class AA no. 2 ranking, used Tyler Forbes’ pair of first-half goals to beat the Northstars 2-0 Tuesday night at the new High School turf, improving its record to 8-0-1 as it passed the midway point of the regular season.
F-M and CNS had first met on Sept. 10, in the finals of the Northstars’ Optimist Tournament. That went to double overtime, with the Hornets pulling it out 1-0 on Forbes’ goal – this after it had beaten Rochester Aquinas in overtime in the tournament’s opening round.
Two and a half weeks later, the rematch featured key midfielders on the sidelines for both sides – Alex Baynes for F-M, Rob Spenard for CNS. But Forbes was quite healhty, and he didn’t waste much time hurting the Northstars again.
Just 1:05 had elapsed, in fact, when Forbes, from 25 yards out, broke open on the left side and drilled a hard shot just beyond the reach of CNS goalie Charlie Willard into the top part of the net.
Maintaining the pressure throughout the early stages, the Hornets doubled the lead in the 17th minute when Haile Marr, denied on a close-in shot seconds earlier, returned and, from the wing, fed it to Forbes, who deposited a low shot just inside the right post.
Now F-M used its defense to protect that margin. Led by Antonio Cantarero, Mike Zazzara, Sam Donato and Dan Koldin, the Hornets’ back line frustrated CNS’s top two forwards, Darren Cooper and Logan Roberts, and made sure that goalie Kenny Chapman did not have to work too hard.
Still, Chapman made most of his eight saves in the second half, where CNS, with the wind at its back, made more attacks and tried, without success, to get on the board.
Having earned its seventh shutout of the season, F-M now rests for nearly a week, returning to action next Monday at West Genesee, where Baynes is set to return to the lineup.
