Once again, a well-established power with lots of recent success brought home the Section III Class AA championship – only it wasn’t the one that many people expected.
Two goals by Meagan O’Neill, along with a defense that stepped up when it was needed, helped Liverpool knock off defending champion Cicero-North Syracuse 2-1 in Friday night’s AA title game at SUNY-Cortland.
It’s the Warriors’ third sectional championship in four years, but this one was far more unlikely than 2011 or 2012, because the Northstars were the favorites all season to hold on to its crown.
“We had to play our best game of the season to beat them,“ said Liverpool head coach Kevin McGrane. “It feels good to win it again.”
Their lone regular-season meeting, on Sept. 25 at Archie Hall Stadium, ended 1-0 in the Northstars’ favor, a game where Ariah Rosas netted the lone goal.
Despite that defeat, the Warriors learned that it could contain C-NS’s explosive attack, though it would take an all-out defensive effort in the title-game rematch to do so.
That back-line effort started with junior Breanna Murphy, who shadowed Hanna Haven everywhere she went, rarely letting the Northstars’ senior get any open space.
Murphy combined with senior Logan Rubio, sophomore Lynsey Roth and freshman Emily Dorr to keep Haven, Rosas and the rest of the Northstars’ speedy forwards in front of them.
On the offensive side, Ore Akinpelu, who rarely found any good opportunities in that first meeting in September, charged in and got a point-blank shot that C-NS goalie Chloe Borasky snared 4:20 into the game. Haven earned C-NS’s first good chance at the 8:40 mark, only to see Julia Richey step out of her net to make a close-up save.
Gradually, the Warriors established itself on the Northstars’ end. That paid off in the 19th minute as, seconds after Borasky robbed Kasi Cabrey on a point-blank look, Christie Allen hit the ensuing corner kick to the middle, where O’Neil’s low, hard shot flew into the right side of the net.
Liverpool’s 1-0 lead lasted all of two minutes. Chloe Lonergan’s long pass sprung Rosas down the middle. When Liverpool goalie Julia Richey went out to meet her, Rosas kept the ball, dribbled around Richey and slid the ball into the abandoned net.
From there, the game quieted down, and it stayed 1-1 deep into the second half, C-NS getting more possession, but doing little with it against the Warriors’ stubborn resistance.
In the 56th minute, a Northstars foul created a Liverpool free kick from 25 yards out. O’Neil took it, and the junior’s shot found the left side of the net, helping the Warriors reclaim the lead.
“She’s a great player,” said McGrane of O’Neill. “She’s got outstanding technical ability. We were missing shots, and she was able to put the ball on the net, which made all the difference.”
All through the homestretch, C-NS would probe, and occasionally get close to the net. Yet the Warriors didn’t sit back, instead making long runs and using up precious time until the final whistle sounded, and it had taken the sectional crown back from the Northstars.
Now Liverpool (14-2-2) gets to sit for a week until next Saturday’s Class AA regional final at Fulton against the Section II champion, Bethlehem or Saratoga. Win that game, and the Warriors go back to the Cortland-Homer area for the Nov. 15-16 state final four.
