To stay unbeaten, the Cicero-North Syracuse field hockey team had to navigate through four more obstacles in the last full week of September – and did so, capping it with a tournament title in Rome.
It started with the Northstars venturing to Weedsport last Monday afternoon, and even on a natural grass field, C-NS proved good enough as Marie Aloi led her side to a 2-0 victory over the Warriors.
With its 6-2 record, Weedsport kept things close most of the way, yet managed just two direct shots against a stingy Northstars defense.
Still, Aloi’s first-half goal stood up, and though Abby Marsden made seven saves, she could not keep Aloi from notching her second goal in the game’s latter stages to give the visitors some insurance.
In yet another tough test on Wednesday afternoon, at Baldwinsville, the Northstars could not get anything on the board, settling for a 0-0 tie with the Bees.
Again, the grass surface slowed things down for a C-NS side accustomed to a quicker pace. And though B’ville had played an overtime game the day before (a 1-0 defeat to Fayetteville-Manlius), it still managed to hold the Northstars to five shots, all of them stopped by Kaitlyn Gee.
Now C-NS went east to play in the Rome Free Academy Tournament, and met the host Black Knights in the opening round.
Here, the Northstars’ offense finally got on track in a 4-1 victory, taking 17 shots overall and finding the net twice in each half to subdue RFA and overcome 13 saves from Paula Amo.
Four different players – Megan Caveny, Elise Towers, McKayla Roberts and Nessa McKie – had the four goals, with Maggie Kennedy and Alana Lorraine earning the assists.
And that momentum carried over into Saturday’s final, when C-NS knocked off Camden by that same 4-1 margin by relying on that exact same formula as RFA, with two goals in each half and four different players finding the net.
Caveny scored, as did Roberts, Aloi and McKie, with Kennedy picking up two assist and Towers also contributing an assist. Abby Meagher got the Blue Devils’ lone goal in the first half, but C-NS stopped everything else as White finished with four saves.
Liverpool’s revival continued last Monday in a 2-1 victory over Whitesboro, but even that game had some nervous moments as Cassidy Ruiu’s goal helped create a 1-1 first-half time.
But Liverpool went out in front during the second half, and stayed there as Kayla Crosby assisted on both of the scoring plays – one by Marissa Penge, the other by Gabby Pascarella. Megan Evangelista finished with three saves.
A day later, the Warriors went to Auburn and won another one-goal decision, scraping past the Maroons 1-0 in a game that required quite a bit of patience.
Liverpool earned 12 penalty corners in the first half and could not convert any of them, the game staying 0-0. And it stayed scoreless deep into the second half before the Warriors broke through with less than 10 minutes left on Paige Hayward’s goal, assisted by Pascarella.
All told, the Warriors amassed 18 penalty corners, and while that led to lots of frustration, it also kept the ball out of the defensive end, as Evangelista only had to make one save.
But the win streak ended Thursday night in a tough 2-1 overtime defeat to defending Section III Class C champion Cazenovia at LHS Stadium.
Even with a first-half goal from Morgan Thomas, assisted by Meghan Bailey, Liverpool could not hold on to its 1-0 edge, the Lakers rallying to tie it in the second half and prevail in the seven-on-seven OT, negating a marvelous effort in the net by Evangelista, who had 13 saves.
Liverpool could really gain some attention if it won Tuesday at unbeaten Fayetteville-Manlius, two days before the Warriors and C-NS square off again, this time at LHS Stadium. The Northstars will get its own shot at F-M at home next Tuesday night.
