When the Liverpool girls soccer team lost 3-0 to Baldwinsville at home on Sept. 13, it chalked the defeat to the fact that it lost a player to a red card less than 15 minutes into the game, forcing a 10-on-11 situation the Warriors could not overcome.
Barely two weeks later, this pair of Class AA favorites met again, clashing last Thursday night on the new Field Turf at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium, and once again an early call would make a crucial difference as Liverpool fought hard, but fell 2-1 as Bees head coach Kathy Morse earned her 200th career victory.
This second encounter would feature no red cards, but even in an 11-on-11 situation, though, the Bees bolted in front 1-0 before the game was five minutes hold as a mishandled corner kick got drilled into the net by Mackenzie Schaffner.
That turning point came when B’ville got whistled for a foul inside the 18-yard box minutes after Schaffner’s goal – but no penalty kick was awarded. Instead, it was a Liverpool free kick that the Bees were able to defend and clear out.
Midway through the first half, B’ville Carolyn Brussel lined up a free kick of her own 20 yards out and a hard left angle, but somehow drilled a left-footed shot past Liverpool goalie Megan Merrifield’s reach into the top right corner of the net to make it 2-0, where it still stood at halftime.
Less than eight minutes into the second half, a long run by Liverpool’s Bri Kovarik led to a cross to Carli Kovarik, who converted to cut B’ville’s lead in half. From there, though, the Bees’ defense shut down Liverpool’s attack, rarely surrendering chances as goalie Mackenzie Hanna only had to make four saves, contrasting Merrifield’s total of nine saves.
Liverpool had just come off a 3-0 win at West Genesee last Monday night, a more lopsided outcome than B’ville’s 1-0 win over those same Wildcats in Camillus three nights earlier.
WG managed to play a strong first half against Liverpool, initiating a series of attacks and runs while having a strong wind at its back. Every time, though, those chances were thwarted, for reasons ranging from offsides whistles to one shot that glanced off the right post.
Liverpool had to settle for counter-attacks in the early going, but still took a 1-0 lead midway through the first half when Abeba Haley dribbled past two Wildcat defenders and fit a shot past Elizabeth Croft just inside the left post.
It stayed 1-0 deep into the second half. Now playing into the wind, WG could only muster occasional charges against a Warriors defense that had fullbacks and midfielders combining to protect Megan Merrifield, who only had to make two saves.
With 9:06 left, the Wildcats committed a foul just outside the 18-yard box, and Liverpool’s Emily Dorr took full advantage, fitting a free kick to the top right corner of the net to make it 2-0. Less than four minutes later, Bri Kovarik converted on a long run from midfield to put the game away.
Before Liverpool went to B’ville, Cicero-North Syracuse did so, in the first home game for the Bees on that new Field Turf. The Northstars were unable to overcome a first-half blitz in a 5-1 loss to the Bees.
By the time they reached the break, it was already 4-1 in B’ville’s favor, C-NS interrupting the surge when Jenna Imbesi scored off a feed from Jessica Foley. Olivia Haven and Chloe Gordon combined for 10 saves, but the Bees struck them with five goals from five different players – Addison Hornsey, Katie Pascale, Shannon Lauko, Kelsey Delola and Mackenzie Schaffner.
C-NS did rebound on Thursday with a 7-1 romp over Utica Proctor where the Northstars picked up four unanswered goals in the first half and, by game’s end, had seen seven different players put shots in the net.
Teryn Field augmented her goal with a pair of assists, while Mallory Hotchkiss had one goal and one assist. Other goals went to Imbesi, Foley, Ashlyn Slate, Marissa Bukowski and Morgan Siechen, with Madison Loomis contributing an assist.
On Saturday, C-NS would go up against undefeated, state Class C no. 6-ranked Bishop Ludden, and hand the Gaelic Knights its first defeat in a 3-1 decision, largely because it netted all three of its goals in a decisive first half.
Siechen stepped up her game, earning two of those three early goals as Slate also scored. Foley and Bukowski had one assist apiece, with the defense doing a solid job of containment, Chloe Gordon recording four saves despite a second-half goal by Ludden’s Kara Beamish.
As that was going on, Liverpool was shutting out Newark (Section V) 5-0, like C-NS doing much of the damage in the first half when it raced to a 4-0 lead. By game’s end, five different players – Bri Kovarik, Abby Kovarik, Emily Wu, Brisa Salinas and Divya Durasaimy – had earned goals, with Morgan Mitchell and Leigha Johnson earning assists.
Now Liverpool and C-NS would face each other Tuesday night at Archie Hall Stadium, with the Warriors hosting Fayetteville-Manlius on Friday as the Northstars, 5-5-1 going into the week, take its own trip to West Genesee on Thursday,
