An inability to win either of its head-to-head match-ups with Baldwinsville ultimately left the Liverpool girls soccer team to settle for the no. 2 seed in the Section III Class AA playoffs that get underway late this week.
Still, the Warriors, who sat at no. 13 in last week’s state Class AA rankings (three spots behind B’ville), carry a 13-2-1 record into its sectional title defense, having won twice following that harrowing 2-2 draw with the Bees at LHS Stadium on Oct. 6.
First, Liverpool had fought past Fayetteville-Manlius 1-0 on Oct. 10. Then, in last Tuesday night’s regular-season finale, the Warriors jumped all over visiting Auburn, making its Senior Night a happy one as it blanked the Maroons 4-0.
It proved more lopsided than their first meeting at Auburn on Sept. 22. Liverpool won that game, 3-1, and got an up-close look at the problems Maroons goalkeeper Ally Nicolosi created as she made 12 saves on that occasion.
Here, though, Nicolosi had no chance to stop the waves of Warrior attackers who produced a first-half flurry. Bri Kovarik netted two goals, with Leanne Barnard earning one goal and one assist, and Meagan O’Neil also finding the net.
Carli Kovarik, who had earned all three of her team’s goals in the B’ville and F-M games the week before, managed two assists on this occasion, with Sierra Dorr adding one assist. And the Warriors’ defense was stellar again, limiting Auburn to four shots, all of them stopped by Julia Richey in her last regular-season home appearance.
Meanwhile, a long, rough season for Cicero-North Syracuse reached a satisfying conclusion, beginning with last Thursday night’s 2-1 home victory over the Fayetteville-Manlius Hornets at Archie Hall Stadium.
Here was where the emotions of Senior Night had a positive carryover. Mired at 3-10-1, and having not won a league game all season, the Northstars got payback against a Hornets team it lost to, 3-0, back on Sept. 21.
Twice in the first half, C-NS’s Morgan Siechen pushed shots past F-M goalie Sabrina Suriani, with Kate Wagner assisting on one of those scoring plays. Up 2-0 at the break, C-NS received an all-out assault from F-M in the second half, but while Gianna LaRocca did score, the Northstars held on, thanks to a defense that held the Hornets to four shots all night.
C-NS would finish its season at Whitesboro on a chilly Saturday afternoon, dropping a 3-2 decision to another group of Warriors. Trailing 2-0 at halftime, the Northstars tried to rally behind goals from Mallory Hotchkiss and Ashley Salvett, with Kate Wagner and Morgan Siechen earning assists, but it wasn’t quite enough.
Liverpool, of course, was far from done. As the no. 2 seed in a seven-team sectional AA bracket, the Warriors, unlike top seed B’ville, will have to play a quarterfinal on Thursday at LHS Stadium against the combined Syracuse city team, who holds the no. 7 seed. The winner gets to the semifinals against F-M or Utica Proctor.
