Though they came into the week in vastly different form, the Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse boys soccer teams would each find success as CNY Counties League play got fully underway and the two rivals worked toward this Friday’s meeting at Gillette Field.
For the Warriors, that meant staying patient in last Tuesday’s game at LHS Stadium against visiting West Genesee before a pair of late goals produced a 2-0 victory over the Warriors.
Through 40 minutes, it remained 0-0, and WG’s goalie, Ryan Mavretish, was on his way to five saves. But Mavretish could not stop Conor Vaughn, who pushed the Warriors ahead by scoring one goal in the second half and assisting on the other, by Jeff Meyers.
As that went on, Liverpool’s defense remained stingy, turning back all of the Wildcats’ charges, and even when shots found the net, Tyler Lane stopped them, recording seven saves.
Then the Warriors took its first blemish of the season on Friday, going to the Rochester area and making a tremendous late-game comeback against Pittsford Mendon, but still ending up with a 4-3, double-overtime defeat.
A brutal first half saw Liverpool fall behind, 2-0, but it caught up in the second half with goals from Andrew Baillet, Sam Fuller and Owen Valentine, with Vaughn and Baillet earning assists. Still, Mendon won it in the second of two 10-minute OT periods, overcoming nine combined saves from Lane and fellow goalie Ben Bowers.
Meanwhile, the C-NS boys team, who was 1-2 following a loss to Nottingham and a split at its own Optimist Tournament, got back to .500 with an impressive 4-0 shutout over Henninger at Gillette Field.
Any hopes the Black Knights may have possessed vanished during a first half when the Northstars roared out to a 3-0 advantage. Kyle Tracy led the charge, scoring twice, while Lucas Roberts and Josh DiFabio gained one goal apiece. Jason Hange and Cameron Hauser each earned an assist, and the C-NS defense held Henninger to just two shots all night.
And while Liverpool was busy in its wild game at Mendon, C-NS went east, to Utica Proctor, and also went to two overtimes – only to play the Raiders to a 0-0 draw.
Undefeated against Tri-Valley League competition, Proctor proved it could stay with the CNY Counties League powers, too, putting up all sorts of attacks. But the Northstars’ defenses turned them away, getting eight saves from Siegel for a well-timed shutout.
Now a busy week awaits both C-NS and Liverpool. Not only do the teams face each other, but the Northstars had to, on back-to-back nights, visit Central Square and then host Fayetteville-Manlius, while the Warriors are home Wednesday night for a clash with defending Class AA sectional champion Baldwinsville.
