All of the major obstacles are out of the way for Liverpool’s boys soccer team as it now hones in on trying to reclaim a Section III Class AA title it last won a decade ago.
The Warriors, who sit at no. 15 in the latest state AA rankings, hosted Nottingham last Tuesday night and used a 15-minute outburst to put away the Bulldogs 3-0.
Any hopes Nottingham may have possessed started to dissipate in the 12th minute, when Connor Vaughn sent a terrific pass to the middle that Lukas Rubio picked up in mid-stride, leading to a low shot past Bulldog goalie Bhuwan Basnet.
Just five minutes later, it was 2-0 as Gerardo Ramirez Hanon broke loose on the right side and sent a low shot home. And the margin grew to three in the 26th minute, Vaughn getting the goal this time off a nice cross from Sam Fuller in the left corner.
All of those goals proved plenty for the Warriors, even though Nottingham’s pressure picked up in the second half and tension led to a series of cards, including a red card, that left the Bulldogs short-handed in the homestretch.
Liverpool then wrapped up league play on Saturday with a 6-0 romp over Central Square, getting a near-perfect balance in its attack as it overwhelmed the Red Hawks by scoring four times in the second half.
Six different players – Vaughn, Fuller, Joe Pugh, Alex Sestak, Jeff Meyers and Mike Alsid – picked up those six goals, with Vaughn and Pugh adding assists. Rubio and Zach Munski also earned assists.
Cicero-North Syracuse returned to action last Tuesday night, hosting West Genesee, and found that its attack was starting to click in the course of a 4-0 shutout over the Wildcats.
Following a solid first half where it grabbed a 1-0 lead, the Northstars tacked on three more goals in the second half, and four different players scored.
Liam McDonnell, whose overtime goal beat Fayetteville-Manlius on Oct. 3, found the net, as did Justin Perkins, Pete Girardi and Lucas Roberts. Austin Mizell and Bryan Bausinger added assists. Morgan Miller stopped all six of WG’s shots.
The Northstars followed it up Thursday with a 3-0 shutout over Henninger, a game that was close for quite a while, C-NS only leading 1-0 at halftime as Black Knights goalie Jonny Larca, who finished with seven saves, made lots of quality stops.
But C-NS got away with goals in the early and late portions of the second half, as Kyle Tracy and Nick Bitz both found the net and Henninger gave up an own goal, too.
A day later, the Northstars got a bit of a scare at Central Square, unable to get on the board until the second half before squeaking out a 1-0 victory over the Red Hawks.
Try as it could, C-NS could not get anything past Central Square goalie Alex Marino, whose sensational effort in the net included 18 saves. But the Northstars kept up the pressure, and finally broke through in the second half as Bausinger netted the game-winner, assisted by Mizell.
As Liverpool mostly rests in the last week of the regular season (it did have a non-league game against Pittsford Mendon on Tuesday), C-NS would host Nottingham and then, on Thursday night, get a big test against visiting Baldwinsville, a good barometer for both contenders before the Section III Class AA playoffs start next week.
