Though it is the defending Section III Class AA champions, the Cicero-North Syracuse boys soccer team knows it is not favored to repeat, with the likes of Fayetteville-Manlius and Baldwinsville stationed in front of them.
But the Northstars carry with them the knowledge that, on its home field, it beat both the Hornets and Bees this season.
The 3-2 win over F-M came on Labor Day weekend, though, and C-NS had enjoyed nothing remotely close to that effort until last Thursday night’s game at the Gillette Road complex, where the Northstars’ attack came to life against a wounded Baldwinsville defense and produced a 4-1 victory.
This didn’t seem likely after B’ville had shut out C-NS 2-0 back on Sept. 20 at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium. But the Northstars had learned, from that game, how it could find success against a Bees defense that was formidable at the time, but now was battered in the wake of the 5-0 beating F-M gave them the previous Saturday.
Led by Zach Spenard and Nolan Byrnes, C-NS would negate a Brandon Mimas goal and seize a 2-1 halftime lead. And with its defense making sure the Bees didn’t convert again, the attack could stay aggressive, which it did.
Spenard and Byrnes would both score twice, while Brady Engle joined Spenard in the assist column. While that was going on, a fast-improving C-NS defense started to resemble the shutdown unit of 2015, holding the Bees to a handful of chances and protecting goalie Kevin Czuba, who only had to make four saves.
Two nights earlier, C-NS went to Nottingham and got a much-needed 2-1 win over the same Bulldogs team it lost to, 2-0, at home on Sept. 16. This meeting was tied, 1-1, at halftime before the Northstars inched in front during the second half and stayed there.
Liverpool was far removed from the drama around C-NS, but last Friday night it reminded everyone of its championship ambitions by putting an end to F-M’s win streak in a tense 1-0 victory over the Hornets at LHS Stadium.
Just as C-NS had its own belief against an opponent like B’ville, Liverpool felt that same way about F-M because it managed a 0-0 draw at Swan Pond on Sept. 27, and believed it could do better at home in the rematch.
Here, the theme was the same, F-M shut out once more, but the difference was that the Warriors did get on the board in the first half, Justin Lombard getting the goal and Arlind Ramadani earning the assist.
For the rest of the game, Liverpool’s defense, led by Caleb Munski, Amko Sahilovic, Aleks Dzodic and Owen Valentine, protected that one-goal margin, breaking up all of F-M’s attacks. Ben Bowers only had to make four saves, the same as Hornets counterpart Mike Baril.
Three days earlier, Liverpool a 6-0 shutout of Corcoran where it found the net three times in each half and got nine different players into the scoring column.
Only Abe Haley scored twice for the Warriors, with Lombard, Ben Root, Tom Brancato and Marques Wright landing one goal apiece. James Gaffney, Dan Tracy, Ian Zangaro and Taylor Race each got credit for an assist.
The win over F-M left Liverpool a 9-3-4 record, and ultimately holding the no. 3 seed in the Class AA sectional playoffs. In Wednesday’s quarterfinal at LHS Stadium, the Warriros face no. 6 seed Utica Proctor.
Meanwhile, C-NS ended up with the no. 4 seed in AA, and would meet no. 5 seed Nottingham in its sectional quarterfinal Thursday night at 6:30 at Gillette.
