Part of the deep, abiding tradition of Fayetteville-Manlius soccer was brisk fall evenings spent in the shadow of the Village Library and games under the tall lights of the field known to one and all as Swan Pond.
This fall, the boys Hornets, who spent the last two seasons playing most of its home games on the newly-installed Field Turf on the F-M High School campus, are back at Swan Pond, hoping the move helps lead to a first outright sectional title since 2004.
A season ago, the Hornets again went to the sectional finals – and again lost to Baldwinsville, the same side that has won six of the last seven sectional championships.
The changes in 2014 go beyond the return to Swan Pond. For the first time in 24 years, head coach Jeff Hammond won’t have Brent Ostrander as his JV counterpart, since Ostrander accepted the job as head coach of the girls varsity Hornets.
One thing that hasn’t changed, though, is the Hornets’ high expectations, something that wasn’t tampered by what took place during the season’s opening week.
On that vast Swan Pond grass last Wednesday night, things started against Central Square, where the Hornets breezed to a 5-0 victory over the Red Hawks, taking 25 shots overall and getting a 3-0 edge by halftime to take quick control.
Dante Pavone was the only F-M player to score twice. Tysen Tresness, Julian Razmjou and Adrian Temnycky each had one goal, with Jacob Koldin, Adam Bem and Christian Bagabo picking up assists. Only the work of Central Square goalie Dakota Williams, who had 20 saves, kept it from getting more lopsided.
Then, as it does each September, the Hornets went to Cicero-North Syracuse’s Optimist Tournament at the Gillette Road Complex, where it would take on two Rochester-area opponents, McQuaid and Aquinas.
And F-M would sweep them, starting on a hot Friday with a 3-0 shutout over McQuaid that included lots of production from Tresness and Pavone, who each finished with one goal and one assist. Bem also scored, with the Hornets’ dense limiting the Knights to just one shot all day.
It was much more comfortable on Saturday afternoon, and the Hornets, playing for the third time in four days, did not wear down against Aquinas (who had beaten C-NS 1-0 the day before), instead defeating the Little Irish by a 3-1 margin.
Even though it finally allowed a goal, in the second half to end a shutout streak that covered more than 200 minutes, F-M had the cushion to absorb it, having gained a 2-0 halftime lead. And Tresness was the star again, scoring twice and assisting on the other goal, by Jules Ngadula, while Bem and Dante Belmonte earned assists.
F-M’s activity this week includes a tough test Thursday at Nottingham and, on Saturday, a visit from CBA in the “Red Out” game at Swan Pond, part of a doubleheader with the girls teams that gets underway at 5 p.m.
