For the Liverpool boys soccer team to go as far as it wants, it had to find a way to pick up the offensive production that has suffered ever since Nick Zingaro’s season-ending knee injury.
Yet another instance of the Warriors’ short-handed attack was last Tuesday night’s long battle with Fayetteville-Manlius at LHS Stadium, which went into double overtime before the Hornets pulled it out by a score of 1-0.
Off to a 3-0 start (including a win over Baldwinsville), F-M was a confident group going into the game, and little that happened discouraged the Hornets, even as it stayed 0-0 through regulation thanks to a stout Warrior defense.
Every time F-M tried to push in front, defenders would chip the ball away, and when it got to goalie Kyle Peck, he handled the ball, making eight saves overall.
Liverpool had just as many chances, only to have F-M keeper Jim Brady turn them away. That mattered more when, in the second 10-minute OT period, the Hornets charged again – and Jules Ngadula, taking a feed from Tyler Tressnes, bet Peck for the game-winner.
On Saturday night, Liverpool met yet another high-profile opponent when it took on Baldwinsville and, for a half, the Warriors appeared to be figuring things out – only to surrender that edge and take a painful 3-2 defeat to the Bees.
Fired up to face its neighbor and rival, Liverpool was able to capitalize on a pair of first-half scoring opportunities. Mike Alsid and Joe Pugh both put in goals, with Kyle Lombard adding an assist, and the Warriors found itself with a 2-0 halftime edge.
And still it could not hold on. B’ville pulled even, 2-2, with a second-half surge, and then got the game-winner in the extra period as Jake Gentile, with two goals, led the rally, Alex Burrer earning the other goal. Peck, in defeat, recorded three saves.
By the time Cicero-North Syracuse visited Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium last Monday night to face that same B’ville squad, it was playing its fourth game in a six-day span.
Perhaps that crowded schedule had something to do with the Northstars tailing off in a 1-0 defeat to the Bees, who was trying to shake off its own inconsistencies stemming from a 1-2 start.
When Connor Ross scored in the first half off a feed from Connor Linduski, neither side could have realized that it would be the lone goal of the evening.
Morgan Miller stopped everything else the Bees tried on the evening and finished with seven saves, but C-NS had a difficult time establishing any sort of attack, managing just four direct shots at Nick Lindovski, all stopped.
Following that, the Northstars got some rest, and it proved vital, because next up was Friday’s game against Utica Proctor, a rematch of last year’s Section III Class AA final won by the Raiders for the first time in that program’s history.
Remembering that result, C-NS beat Proctor this time around in a 2-1 thriller where all of the scoring took place in the second half.
Though the Raiders’ David Upendo got a goal, the Northstars countered with Kyle Tracy and Pete Girardi each finding the net, Liam McDonnell grabbing an assist. Then C-NS held on late as Miller picked up seven saves.
All of this will lead to Friday’s rematch between C-NS and Liverpool at Gillette Road, this after the two sides played to a 0-0 stalemate on Sept. 3. Before that, the Warriors get a chance to build momentum in games against Oswego and Corcoran, while the Northstars would go to Auburn on Wednesday night.
