Two years ago, in memory of his daughter, Christian Brothers Academy boys soccer coach Joe Papaleo joined his side with Fayetteville-Manlius for an early-season showcase.
Now it’s turned into a big event, and the faithful gathered again Saturday night at Swan Pond for the third annual “Red Out” to benefit the American Heart Association.
They saw a pair of close, tense contests, with the girls teams playing to a 1-1 draw and the boys Hornets and Brothers not deciding matters until Dante Pavone’s goal in the waning moments of regulation produced a 1-0 F-M victory.
The real winner, of course, was the American Heart Association. All proceeds from the event, from T-shirt sales to baked goods, went to the AHA, and red was the evening’s preferred color.
Both of CBA’s teams wore red socks and red T-shirts with the inscription “In Our Hearts Forever”, with a heart in the middle and the initials “LCP” inside them, in honor of Linda Papaleo, who passed away in August 2012.
F-M’s teams took a different approach, with the girls teams sporting white T-shirts with red letters and the boys sides donning black T-shirts, each with the “Red Out” logo on them.
Going first on a chilly early-fall evening, F-M’s girls team took the lead midway through the first half when Sarah Olick-Sutphen fed a pass to the middle that Mackenzie Tamblin poked past CBA goalie Cathrine Burns.
From there, the short-handed Hornets, who were missing six players due to injury (including Emily Murray, out for the season), tried to hang on as the Brothers steadily built its pressure.
It almost worked – but with 8:25 left, an F-M foul inside the 18-yard box gave CBA a penalty kick that Kate LaCasse converted, just inside the left post.
That tied it up, and it would stay that way through the rest of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime, with the Hornets getting several close looks in the last two minutes but unable to convert them.
With night falling, the boys teams took to the field, and it proved just as close. Through a 0-0 first half, the flow of play was fairly even, with shots that just missed the mark from both F-M and CBA.
But as the second half wore on, F-M gradually picked up its pressure, sending waves of attackers at the Brothers’ net. For the most part, CBA goalie Mike Smith turned them away, making a series of big stops that, by all looks, was to send the game into overtime still scoreless.
F-M kept coming, though, and forced a corner kick with less than 30 seconds left. Rushing into position, the Hornets kept it short, seeing Christian Bagabo send a cross from the right side. Amid a scrambling crowd, Pavone rose up and, with a strong header, sent it past Smith with six seconds left.
Each of the four teams that participated on Saturday had games leading up to the twin bill, and mostly found success.
CBA pushed past Homer 4-1 at Alibrandi Stadium on Tuesday, while F-M, visiting Nottingham two nights later, won that clash of unbeaten teams by a 2-1 margin.
When the Brothers beat Homer, it took all of 25 seconds for Monte Stroman to put the Brothers on the board, Jake Dinger earning the assist. Not stopping there, Stroman kept on bugging Homer’s defenders until, in the 15th minute, he notched his second goal off a feed from Matt DePerro.
From there, Stroman turned into a distributor, returning the favor by assting on Dinger’s goal late in the first half that gave CBA a 3-0 halftime advantage. Then, in the 55th minute, Dinger scored a second time, and again it was Stroman earning the assist.
Contrasting this comfortable effort was the stress that F-M would feel at Nottingham, a team that had roared out to a 4-0 start to state its case as a Class AA title contender.
It got more stressful when Ismet Suljic, taking a pass from Hassan Musa, headed a shot past F-M goalie Ben Obrist in the 15th minute to put the Bulldogs ahead 1-0. But the Hornets maintained its own pressure and, in the 36th minute, got even when goalie Bhuwan Basnet could not corral the ball in front of his net and Jules Ngadula poked it past him.
Gaining the wind advantage in the second half, F-M moved out in front during the 50th minute as, again, Basnet’s inability to possess the ball cost him, Tysen Tresness sending it past him into the unoccupied net. Then F-M’s defense took over, making sure that Nottingham didn’t get much open space the rest of the way, and Obrist finished with 10 saves.
CBA’s girls made it 2-0 with an impressive 5-0 shutout over Chittenango last Monday night. LaCasse (two goals, one assist) and Emily Ehle (one goal, two assists) led the charge. Anna Schug added one goal and one assist. Sam McKenna also scored, with Jess Slack adding an assist.
F-M, meanwhile, having taken losses to Jamesville-DeWitt, Baldwinsville and Liverpool in the early going, finally broke through last Tuesday night, at West Genesee, where it blanked the Wildcats 2-0.
All through the first half, and a good portion of the second half, the two sides stayed scoreless. But the Hornets broke the 0-0 deadlock in the late stage as Sarah Olick-Sutphen led the way, scoring one goal and assisting on the other, by Rachel Dobricki. And F-M’s defenders did a terrific job, too, holding WG to four shots, all stopped by Caroline Rabe.
Then the Hornets managed a 0-0 draw with reigning Class AA champion Cicero-North Syracuse on Thursday night. Cold, windy conditions appeared to slow both teams down as, through 80 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime, neither side broke through. Again, Rabe only had to make four saves, but the Northstars clamped down, too, holding F-M to three shots all night.
Both of CBA’s teams played on Friday against Fulton – and both won, the boys by a 5-1 margin, the girls by a 3-0 margin.
Up 4-1 by halftime, the boys Brothers saw DePerro score twice, with Stroman adding a goal and two assists. Parker Johnston and Ian McConnell had the other goals, with Dinger and Paul Civello adding assists.
