From a regular-season standpoint, everything that followed the Fayetteville-Manlius boys soccer team’s 3-0 conquest at Baldwinsville on Oct. 15 was supposed to be anticlimactic.
However, when the Hornets visited Nottingham last Thursday night, it proved anything but easy as the visitors had to come from behind and rely on Tyler Forbes and Mike Zazzara to fight past the Bulldogs 2-1.
Both sides had plenty of chances in the first half. F-M could not get anything past Nottingham goalie Bior Atak, while Nottingham got on the board when Almedin Bektic, off a feed from Semir Salkic, poked a shot past Kenny Chapman.
So the Hornet trailed 1-0 going into the second half. Staying calm in the face of its latest deficit in any game this year, F-M roared ahead when, on two separate occasions, Forbes took well-timed passes from Zazzara and pounded it past Atak. Then Chapman, with his 10 saves, helped maintain that margin.
By stark contrast, the Hornets had an easy time last Tuesday .against Oswego, going to double digits during an 11-0 bashing of the Buccaneers.
F-M’s attack never let up, even after it had long settled matters in the early minutes. Haile Marr and Forbes both finished with two goals and two assists, while Ben Storie chimed in, scoring twice and adding an assist.
Supporting them, Brendan Murray, Zach Charles, Connor Hennessey, Carl Weiss and Sam Donato also put in goals. Weiss joined Alex Baynes, Luis Suotoni and Graham Hughes with one assist apiece.
Moving to the girls side, F-M pushed aside the combined Syracuse city squad 9-0 last Tuesday night, getting six of those goals in an active second half, even after gaining a comfortable lead.
Cheyenne Hall hurt Syracuse, scoring four times and adding an assist. Alexa Restante had two goals and one assist, while Marri Ryu had a goal and two assists. Frankie Bowyer and Jessica Straub also converted, with Sarah Barns, Michaela Stedman and Sarah Rosenbaum joining Bowyer in the assist column.
However, F-M could not catch up to Baldwinsville on Saturday in a 2-0 loss to the Bees, a team it also fell to 1-0 at home back on Sept. 13.
Forced to be quite active, F-M goalie Nina Quigley made 15 saves. Still, B’ville got one goal in each half from Emma Firenze, and goalie Maggie Monnat turned away all seven of the Hornets’ shots.
Given the no. 7 seed for the Class AA playoffs, F-M visits no. 2 seed Liverpool in the quarterfinals, with the winner to get Watertown or West Genesee in next week’s semifinals.
Of course, the F-M boys, no. 2 in the latest state AA rankings, have the top sectional seed, and will be home Friday night for its quarterfinal against either no. 8 seed Watertown or no. 9 seed Fowler.
