Through seven games, the Liverpool field hockey team had remained undefeated, rising to the top of the CNY Counties League and emerging as the favorite for Section III Class A honors, too.
But the Warriors could not stay unbeaten. Baldwinsville, 0-3 in league play going into last Wednesday’s home game, took advantage of that home field, along with a splendid defense, to knock off Liverpool 1-0 last Wednesday afternoon.
Liverpool had beaten B’ville 5-2 at home three weeks earlier at LHS Stadium, but the rematch was on a natural surface made wet by a lot of rain the previous 24 hours.
Much more comfortable on its home surface, B’ville spent the first half probing and finding ways to attack as Liverpool got settled. That paid off when the Bees’ sophomore duo of Lauren Brushingham and Amanda Strenk paired for a goal, Brushingham converting off a feed from Strenk.
B’ville had plenty of more opportunities, but didn’t put one past Warriors goalie Katie Yudin, who had 12 saves. That left it up to B’ville’s defense, who did everything possible to protect that slim margin, from blocking shots to forcing turnovers and penalties. All of Liverpool’s 14 shots got kicked away by Abigail Timmins.
While Liverpool got some rest, C-NS was quite active, venturing the short distance to East Syracuse Minoa last Monday night and requiring overtime to survive a 3-2 battle with the Spartans for its first set of back-to-back wins this fall.
They exchanged goals in the first half, Katina Shiomos getting on the board for ESM. Then C-NS took a 2-1 lead early in the second half, and tried to hang on – but Shiomos returned to strike for her second goal with five minutes left in regulation.
A 2-2 tie meant they would play a 10-minute, seven-on-seven overtime period, and it took just 2:12 for C-NS to notch the game-winner. Three different Northstars – Taylor Lessard, Cara Binaxas and Abbey Szumloz – found the net, and Nessa McKie earned a pair of assists. Avery Beck added an assist as the Northstars overcame seven saves from ESM goalie Taylor Cassella.
Back home at Bragman Stadium two nights later, Cicero-North Syracuse, at 3-4 and looking to climb back to the .500 mark, faced Fayetteville-Manlius, holding its annual “Stick It to Cancer” fund-raiser for Griffin’s Guardians, an organization dedicated to fighting childhood cancer in Central New York.
As to the game, the Northstars lost, 2-0, to the Hornets, who used first-half goals by Sophie Craig and Megan Josephson to move out in front, staying there behind a solid defense that limited C-NS to one direct shot all night.
Playing at Weedsport on Friday afternoon, the Northstars fought its way to a 1-0 victory in overtime. Sixty minutes of regulation play on a natural surface (just like at B’ville) yielded nothing for either side, but in the seven-on-seven OT, Taylor Lessard pushed a shot past Weedsport goalie Nicole Soutar to end it.
Liverpool made its own road trip on Saturday, to Rome Free Academy, and toppled the Black Knights 4-2,
The key to the game was the Warriors keeping RFA off the board in the first half while grabbing a 2-0 edge, so it could match second-half tallies by the Black Knights’ Madisyn Reilley and Alicia Swavely and still come out on top.
Claire Gaynor and Kelly Bergamo each got one goal and one assist for the Warriors, while Meghan Bailey and Nikki Wilson added goals. Bri Socker contributed an assist as Yudin picked up five saves.
And this will lead Liverpool (7-1-1) to another showdown Wednesday with C-NS (4-5), this time at LHS Stadium, but only after Monday’s visit from Cazenovia as the Northstars would have its own test against RFA Friday and meet Holland Patent early in the week.
