If snaring the no. 5 spot in the first state Class AA rankings of the season didn’t excite followers of the Liverpool boys soccer team, what happened in last Tuesday night’s game against Baldwinsville at LHS Stadium made up for that deficiency.
Trailing the Bees deep into the second half and staring at its first defeat of the season, the Warriors used a well-timed set piece to get even and a breakaway in the second overtime period to prevail by a 2-1 margin.
This took place barely two weeks after Liverpool had opened Aug. 31 with a 2-0 win at B’ville. The rematch made it clear how much the Bees’ defense improved, as it spent the first half breaking up most of the Warriors’ attacks long before they got to the net.
Still, it looked like the half would end 0-0 until a wild sequence in the final seconds. Liverpool committed a foul near midfield, giving B’ville a free kick – and from 40 yards out, Justin Lado belted a left-footed shot inside the top right corner of the net.
Stunned by that blow, the Warriors, who had rarely trailed in a game this season, took some time in the second half to regroup, but once it did, the attacks came in waves as it searched for a tying goal.
It arrived with 8:38 left in regulation, courtesy of Evan Vogue’s free kick that A.J. Sinclair headed just inside the right post past diving Bees goalie Andrew Hahn.
Newly energized, the Warriors continued to push through the rest of regulation and an entire first 10-minute OT period without success, but that would soon change.
With 7:06 to go in the second extra frame, another breakaway formed on the right wing. Jeff Meyers anchored it, and when he slid the cross across the crease, Sam Fuller, situated at the far post, deflected it past Hahn into the net to give the Warriors another victory.
And this led to Thursday night’s visit from Cicero-North Syracuse, who had plenty of its own excitement in the week leading up to its meeting with the Warriors.
Not only did the Northstars salvage a 1-1 draw with Rochester Aquinas on Sept. 11 with a last-second goal from Cameron Houser, it saved its best work for the final moments of regulation again while defeating upstart Henninger 1-0 last Tuesday night at the Gillette Road complex.
For much of the 80 minutes of regulation, Henninger proved that its 4-0-1 start wasn’t a fluke, turning back all of C-NS’s attempts to move out in front as goalie Moo Koo Lo earned eight saves.
Yet the Northstars were just as stingy, holding the Black Knights to five shots, all scooped up by Matt Siegel, and things were drifting toward overtime.
But then, with less than a minute to play, Jason Hange took a pass from Nick Bitz and, at just the right moment, fit a shot past Lo that proved the game-winner.
So now C-NS took its shot at Liverpool, and it proved another tense, exciting affair, but again the Warriors stepped up in the late going and edged the Northstars 1-0.
Neither side scored in the first half, and had an even number of opportunities. That stretched into the second half, with Bowers making five saves to preserve his end of the shutout.
Instead of overtime, though, the Warriors decided it late in regulation, again with Meyers offering the key pass, this time to George Betobaum, whose shot got past Matt Siegel, and proved the only goal of the night.
Liverpool and C-NS get a rematch this Saturday at the Gillette Road complex at noon, this after the Warriors tune up with Auburn on Tuesday while the Northstars have a rematch with the B’ville side that it played to a 0-0 standstill two weeks earlier.
