Painful defeats of varying types threatened to derail efforts by the Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse boys soccer teams to match, or at least get close to matching, recent successes as their second regular-season showdown at LHS Stadium loomed early this week.
The Warriors went to Nottingham last Tuesday, and it ended in a 0-0 draw, just as it had a week earlier when Liverpool tied Fayetteville-Manlius, but different from its 1-0 win over those same Bulldogs three weeks earlier.
Again, Liverpool’s defense proved sound and steady, and even when Ben Bowers couldn’t play the entire game, Aaron Smith helped him out, the pair combining to make 14 saves.
At the same time, though, the Warriors spent 80 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime trying to solve Nottingham’s defensive riddle, and couldn’t do so, seeing all 10 of its shots stopped by Bulldogs goalie Megeno Abdi.
On Thursday, against a Henninger side it blanked 2-0 on Sept. 8, the Warriors again could not put something on the board, and this time it cost them a 1-0 defeat to the Black Knights.
Henninger got on the board in the first half, Vianey Botane picking up the goal and Josepha Nana earning the assist. Though the Warriors’ defense shut down the Black Knights from there, it also got stymied by a Black Knights back line that limited them to three direct shots, all of which were stopped by Moo Kpo Lo.
As for C-NS, it badly needed a win last Monday night and got it by shutting out visiting West Genesee 1-0 last Monday night at the Gillette Road complex.
Despite a 1-7 record and an earlier defeat to the Northstars (2-1 on Sept. 6 in Camillus), WG would produce an all-out effort, Northstars fans had to get nervous after a first half of continual chances did not result in a goal.
WG’s David Wenner was sensational, finishing the night with 16 saves. But his Wildcat teammates rarely relieved the pressure, producing just five shots, and C-NS did break through in the second half on Jason Hange’s unassisted tally.
Two nights later, though, it was at Swan Pond for a rematch with F-M, whose only loss of the season came 3-2 at Gillette on Sept.4 in that famous game where the Northstars lost two players to red cards and blew a 2-0 lead, yet still notched the game-winner late in regulation.
F-M remembered all of this, and won the rematch 2-1, but that didn’t prove easy, either.
At the outset, the Northstars went out in front thanks to Brady Engle’s goal, assisted by Zach Spenard, less than seven minutes into the game. Quickly, though, Josh Mahr answered it for F-M, not only tying the game 1-1, but also netting the go-ahead goal as Hunter Knutsen assisted on one of those tallies.
Then, for the rest of the night, the Hornets’ defense took over, limiting C-NS as Mike Baril only had to make five saves. Northstars goalie Kevin Szuba had eight saves to keep his team within one, but that’s where it ended.
Having fallen to 6-5-1 overall, C-NS had plenty at stake when it ventured to Liverpool for the rematch of their 1-1 draw on Sept. 12. From there, the Northstars would move on to face Corcoran Thursday night as the Warriors, who started this week 6-3-3, have a Thursday game at West Genesee.
