Nine days after its regular season concluded, the Liverpool girls soccer team finally hit the field again, beginning the quest to earn a fourth Section III Class AA championship in five years.
Just seven teams qualified for the sectional tournament, but the Warriors, with the no. 2 seed, had to get through a quarterfinal game last Thursday night against the combined Syracuse city team, who held the no. 7 seed, at LHS Stadium.
That didn’t prove too difficult, though, as Liverpool prevailed 7-0 behind one of its best offensive performances of the season. By halftime, it was already 5-0, the Warriors able to use most of its lineup by game’s end.
Carli Kovarik led the charge, earning a three-goal hat trick, plus an assist. Bri Kovarik helped out by scoring twice, while Bri Salinas had one goal and one assist. Emily Wu also found the net as Leanne Barnard and Emily Dorr earned single assists. Liverpool took 22 shots to Syracuse’s two.
In the Class AA semifinal Tuesday night at Nottingham High School, Liverpool meets no. 3 seed Fayetteville-Manlius, whom it beat twice in the regular season, including a 1-0 decision on Oct. 10. The winner gets Baldwinsville or West Genesee in the sectional finals at SUNY-Cortland Saturday at 3 p.m.
