One last blast of summer warmth hit Central New York Tuesday as the four Section III Class AA girls soccer semifinals teams gathered at Christian Brothers Academy’s Alibrandi Stadium.
And with their victories, Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool earned the right to go to SUNY-Cortland Friday night and battle freezing temperatures – not to mention each other – with a sectional championship at stake.
The semifinal twin bill began with C-NS, the top seed and defending sectional champions, overcoming a sleepy start to power past no. 4 seed West Genesee 2-1. Then it concluded with Liverpool, the no. 3, fighting past no. 2 seed Baldwinsville by that exact same margin.
These two games were quite different from each other, with the Northstars mostly controlling the flow of play against the Wildcats and the Warriors taking full advantage of its aggressive runs against the Bees – but also utilizing a stingy defense when it was needed.
Just two weeks earlier, C-NS had faced West Genesee and gone to overtime scoreless before a big surge of goal-scoring created a deceptive 3-0 victory. From that, the Wildcats learned that it could offer a serious resistance if it maintained discipline on the defensive side.
Of course, it would help if the Northstars were at less than top form out of the gate. A defensive turnover led to WG freshman Haley Elsey snapping a shot past Chloe Borasky into the right side of the net just 8:01 into the game.
That 1-0 deficit woke up C-NS, and its attack started to really take form. Wildcat defenders had to chase the likes of Hanna Haven, Ariah Rosas and Kate Wagner all over the field and try to keep them in front.
But that didn’t work for long. Midway through the first half, Haven, taking a right cross from Bryar Cummings, poked in the tying goal. Then, seven minutes later, Haven was back, this time on the left side and angling a shot that glanced off WG goalie Emma Madonna and went home to put the Northstars in front.
All through the rest of the game, the Wildcats found it difficult to get anything past C-NS’s aggressive back line, led by Mary Kate Ordway, Chloe Lonergan, Abby Tolbert and Jessica Foley. This allowed for continual attacks that, while not leading to any more goal, helped secure the one-goal margin.
Their work done, C-NS now waited to see who would join them in the sectional final, a good question since Liverpool and Baldwinsville had split their regular-season meetings.
Right away, it was apparent that the Bees were leaving too much space on its defense, which allowed Ore Akinpelu, Leanne Barnard and Meagan O’Neill, among others, long runs toward the B’ville net, making goalie Mackenzie Hanna work hard.
Hanna did make a superb save on Akinpelu’s point-blank attempt in the 23rd minute, but just one minute later, the Bees turned it over and, when Hanna couldn’t hold on to Barnard’s initial shot, Akinpelu tapped home the rebound.
It stayed 1-0 until early in the second half. Having only attacked sporadically, the Bees shocked the Warriors when, at the 2:55 mark, Hailey Couchman sent a 32-yard shot from the extreme right side that, with perfect speed and distance, flew past Liverpool goalie Julie Richey and found the top left corner of the net.
Yet the tie didn’t hold for long. Liverpool resumed its constant runs and, in the 51st minute, Barnard, sprung by a pass from O’Neill, rebounded her own shot into the net and put her team ahead to stay.
For the most part, Richey could relax, since back-line players Lynsey Roth, Logan Rubio and Alex Bittel paired up to take away the space for Couchman, Jade Gentile and the rest of B’ville’s front line to attack.
And when it was done, Liverpool had earned a shot at dethroning C-NS, a team it lost to 1-0 in their lone regular-season meeting on Sept. 25 at Archier Hall Stadium. Game time Friday night at SUNY-Cortland is at 6 p.m.
