The gathering of Christian Brothers Academy and Fayetteville-Manlius for Saturday’s girls/boys soccer doubleheader at Alibrandi Stadium was about much more than two long-time powers challenging each other on the field.
Thanks to efforts from players on both sides, the game was also a “Red Out”, with all proceeds going to the American Heart Association.
And the games proved quite fun, too. On the boys side, CBA, no. 10 in the state Class A rankings, sprinted out in front and stayed there, defeating the Hornets 3-1.
The Brothers stretched out F-M’s defenders and forced the action from the start. Then, in the 17th minute, CBA drew a corner kick from which Parker Johnston put it past Hornets goalie Jim Brady.
With just three minutes left in the half, CBA, clinging to that 1-0 lead, attacked again, and Monte Stroman slid one into the net, doubling the margin as the two sides went to halftime.
Midway through the second half, the cushion got bigger for the Brothers, thanks to Ian McConnell’s goal, and though F-M’s Tyler Snow put in an unassisted goal a minute later, the Hornets could not get closer.
Matt Stedman and Zach Zajdel got credit for assists, but it was goalie Mike Smith that may have been CBA’s biggest star, constantly thwarting the Hornets as he stopped 12 of 13 shots he faced.
In the girls game between the Hornets and Brothers, it was F-M emerging victorious, breaking through with a patient attack and putting together a 3-0 victory.
It was scoreless for much of the first half, but Emily Murray’s free-kick goal from 25 yards out got the Hornets on the board. Then Sarah Olick-Sutphen and Alexis Muraco tacked on goals in the game’s late stages, thwarting any possible comeback from the Brothers.
A whole lot happened in the lead-up to the game, starting with F-M’s boys rising to the no. 2 spot in the state Class AA rankings, behind only Arlington, from Section I, only to see its perfect mark get ruined Thursday night in a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool.
The Warriors remembered how well it had played against F-M on Sept. 10 at LHS Stadium, pushing the Hornets to double overtime before Jules Ngadala’s goal handed Liverpool a bitter 1-0 defeat.
Barely two weeks later, they were on F-M’s turf, but right from the start Liverpool announced its intentions. Six minutes into the game, Lukas Rubio broke free and got past Brady, only to see his first shot stopped by defender Christian Bagabo and the second attempt crash off the crossbar. Then Brady, with a diving stop, robbed Rubio again three minutes later.
But the Warriors’ didn’t flinch and, in the 20th minute, got in front. When Gerardo Ramirez Hadon’s lobbed pass from the right corner got flicked into the net by Sam Fuller, Liverpool led 1-0, and gave F-M its first deficit all season.
And it stayed 1-0 until the second half, when the Hornets picked up the pace of its attack. That paid off in the 52nd minute, when Ngadala’s strong run to the net led to confusion around the net, and Kyle Peck was unable to get the ball until it had crossed the goal line.
So it was 1-1 – but only for a minute. Having given his team a loud pep talk before the second half, Liverpool’s Joe Pugh now lined up in front of F-M’s net during a free kick. Amid the scramble when the ball got into the box, Pugh poked it just enough to put it into the net.
Again protecting a one-goal lead, the Liverpool back line played with increased confidence, knocking back all of F-M’s charges, while Kyle Peck worked his way to nine saves.
Then the Warriors secured the victory with 5:21 to play. Earning a free kick in the left corner when Brady grabbed the ball outside the 18-yard box, Kyle Lombard perfectly lobbed it to the middle, and Alex Sestak’s clean header flew into the net, out of Brady’s reach.
Just two days after playing fellow Class AA contender Cicero-North Syracuse to a scoreless draw on Sept. 21, the girls Hornets did so again last Monday night, surviving a 0-0 deadlock at Baldwinsville.
Against a young (just one senior) Bees squadm the Hornets made a series of good runs in the first half, only to see shots fly wide of the net.
Then, early in the second half, Jade Gentile’s long run led to a B’ville corner kick on the left side. It got pushed into the middle, where several B’ville players had a chance to put it in the net, but somehow Hornets goalie Alex Lunderman held on.
The Bees never got so close again, either in the second half or 20 minutes of overtime, as every direct shot went right to Lunderman, who finished with nine saves, and the Hornets did a better job of possessing the ball.
F-M had its share of runs, especially in the second half and OT, but the combined work of Alyssa VanAuken and Mackenzie Hanna, who had 11 saves between them, kept the Hornets off the board.
And the Hornets’ drought would continue back home on Wednesday night in a 1-0 home defeat to Liverpool, the same team it had beat by that same 1-0 margin back on Sept. 3 at LHS Stadium.
The rematch two weeks later would see the Warriors get on the board in the first with Alexis Kline’s goal, assisted by Leanne Barnard.
From there, F-M’s defense again shut the door, Lunderman recording four saves, but Liverpool proved stingy, too, blocking all of the Hornets’ lanes and limiting them to just four direct shots, all stopped by Isabel Anjorin .
