Just on the surface, a team with a 6-7-1 record should not have stayed close to a 15-1 opponent.
Yet that’s exactly what the Liverpool field hockey team pulled off in Tuesday night’s Section III Class A semifinal at Rome Free Academy Stadium, getting to the brink of shocking top seed Baldwinsville before falling in overtime to the Bees 2-1.
A strong regular-season homestretch and a 1-0 first-round playoff win over Cicero-North Syracuse showed that Liverpool improved plenty during head coach Nicole Charles’ debut campaign. The ultimate test of this theory, was to see how the Warriors did against B’ville.
All indications pointed toward a win for the Bees, not because it had beat Liverpool 5-3 and 4-1 in their two September meetings, but because of the fury and focus it would show in the wake of Fayetteville-Manlius denying them an undefeated regular season in a 1-0 decision back on Oct. 15.
But the 10-day break between games did not help B’ville much, and Liverpool took full advantage of the Bees’ rust, keeping relatively equal possession during the first half that didn’t translate to goals, but did produce a 0-0 deadlock at the break.
B’ville broke through against Liverpool’s stingy defense with a second-half goal by Amanda Strenk, assisted by Emma Brushingham, before the Warriors countered by having Brianna Socker fire a shot past Abigail Timmins.
Other than that, Timmins stopped everything she faced, earning seven saves, one more than Liverpool goalie Brittany Cussen, so the game remained 1-1 going into the first seven-on-seven OT period B’ville had faced all season.
Despite the Warriors’ all-out effort, the Bees set up another opportunity in the first extra period and, just like in regulation, struck with the combination of Brushingham passing it to Strenk, who beat Cussen for the game-winner.
While B’ville advances to face Fayetteville-Manlius in a rematch of last year’s sectional final, the Warriors will see six seniors depart, including Socker, Cussen, Nicole Wilson, Lexi Penge, Emily Popp and Melinda Castaldo, though it still leaves plenty of talent returning for 2017.
