By the time they met each other last Tuesday night at Bragman Stadium, the Baldwinsville and Cicero-North Syracuse field hockey teams both had dealt with humbling defeats on home turf.
That had added some importance to this SCAC Metro division opener, which turned into a long stalemate until a wild overtime period turned on clutch plays at both ends by the Northstars as it prevailed 1-0 over the Bees.
The 60 minutes of regulation were marked by C-NS earning longer possessions, at times pressuring and earning a steady stream of penalty corners. Its best chance came late in the second half as B’ville goalie Sarah Smiley had to make a point-blank stop.
For its part, the Bees worked best in a counter-attack, utilizing its speed to generate opportunities, but like the Northstars it could not break the deadlock, even with its own fair share of penalty corners.
So it went to seven-on-seven OT, where B’ville swarmed and forced C-NS goalie Jamie Wagner to make two big clutch stops. Then, right after a time-out, the Northstars attacked and, with 3:40 left in the extra period, Katie Thies banged home the game-winner past Smiley.
C-NS, the defending Section III Class A champions but replacing seven graduated seniors, took a 1-0 home defeat to Holland Patent on Aug. 29, but the Northstars were soon joined by the Bees in that category.
In what’s become a late-summer tradition, B’ville hosted its annual Huntington Classic at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium on Aug. 29 and 30.
The opening-round game had B’ville against New Hartford, and it never proved close, the Bees taking 23 shots overall and, after scoring twice in the first half, pulling further away late to beat the Spartans 6-0.
Emma Brushingham, in a fast start to her senior campaign, scored twice, with fellow senior Sarah Dusse also getting two goals. Emma Dugan and Rebecca Mantione had the other goals as Mia Kusdzal, Leah Tuch and Victoria Schultz earned assists.
Liverpool was also in this tournament, fresh off an overtime victory over Canastota Aug. 27 in Molly Brown’s coaching debut, but the Warriors could not produce much in a 2-0 defeat to Clinton.
McKenna Ecker was busy in Liverpool’s in the net, recording nine saves. Yet Clinton twice converted, each ti me with Gianna Trunfio earning the goal as Katherine Stockwell picked up an assist.
Put into the consolation game, Liverpool edged New Hartford 1-0, seeing Megan Graham put in the game’s only goal, converting the rebound of a shot by Carmen Canterino. In doing so, the Warriors overcame 12 saves by Spartans goalie Emilee Clary.
B’ville now faced Clinton in the championship game, but lost it by the same 1-0 margin that C-NS did to Holland Patent, Gianna Trufino’s goal proving the difference-maker. Sarah Smiley finished with four saves.
Following the tournament, Liverpool was off until Wednesday’s home opener, when it pushed Fayetteville-Manlius to overtime before taking defeat in yet another 1-0 decision.
Seven different shots in the first and second half got turned back by Ecker, and it was 0-0 going into OT, when the open space gave F-M one more chance – and Stephanie Drapas put in the game-winner.
Trying to bounce back against Weedsport two nights later, Liverpool instead dropped another overtime decision, 2-1, with Suzie Nemec not only scoring in regulation, but netting the OT game-winner for those other Warriors. Madison Hildreth had Liverpool’s goal, assisted by Claire Carlson.
As that went on, B’ville shut out Cortland 2-0, rebounding from the C-NS defeat as Mantione and Tuch put in the Bees’ goals, assists credited to Brushingham and Kendall Carni.
C-NS found itself in a trip to Massachusetts on the weekend, where it faced Minnechaug and East Meadow, two Springfield-area schools, before returning to league play this week.