With two defeats to Baldwinsville on the ledger and a rough first half just behind them, the Liverpool girls soccer team may have found itself at a small crisis point midway through last Tuesday’s game against Cicero-North Syracuse at Archie Hall Stadium.
Then the alarm went off and, in the last 40 minutes, the state Class AA no. 18-ranked Warriors blitzed the Northstars, eventually claiming a 5-0 victory that exactly matched the one it had at LHS Stadium against this same opponent on Sept. 15.
C-NS had shown some improvement since then, handing unbeaten Bishop Ludden its first loss of the season 3-1 right before it reunited with Liverpool. And during the first half, the Northstars’ defense remained strong, keeping the Warriors off the board.
All of that changed, though, once Liverpool did score early in the second half. The work of C-NS goalies Olivia Haven and Chloe Gordon (eight combined saves) meant little as Bri Kovarik ran wild, having a part in four of the Warriors’ five scoring plays.
Ultimately, Bri Kovarik netted two goals and added two assists, feeding it to her sister, Carli Kovarik, who also scored twice, Emily Dorr picked up one goal and one assist. And a stingy Liverpool defense, led by Drew Patterson, Brisa Salinas, Divya Duraisamy and Abby Kovarik, held C-NS to five shots.
On Friday afternoon, the Warriors returned home to LHS Stadium to face a fast-improving Fayetteville-Manlius side it beat 4-1 at Swan Pond on Sept. 20. The rematch was slightly closer, but Liverpool prevailed again, this one a 3-1 decision.
Surrendering a first-half goal to F-M’s Cady Barns didn’t hurt the Warriors because it still gained a 2-1 lead by intermission. Then it tacked on an insurance tally as Bri Kovarik netted two of the three goals, with Emily Wu earning the other. Carli Kovarik got two assists and Abeba Haley added a single assist.
A night earlier, C-NS visited a struggling West Genesee side, thinking it could get even for a 2-0 defeat at home to the Wildcats in September. And it did so, the Northstars putting together one of its best defensive performances of the ball in a 1-0 shutout.
Neither team scored in the first half, and despite a handful of opportunities, WG would get stymied as Gordon, playing the entire game in the net, made five saves. The work of Gordon and the rest of the C-NS back line got rewarded when Jenna Imbesi, unassisted, earned the game’s lone goal in the second half.
Now the Northstars (6-6-1) would try and slow down unbeaten Baldwinsville Thursday night, also having a Saturday game at Whitesboro. Liverpool (12-2) hosts West Genesee on Thursday night before closing its regular season at Cazenovia on Saturday afternoon.
