It proved a rough November afternoon for a pair of Liverpool soccer teams aiming to reach the state final four.
Having stunned Baldwinsville in penalty kicks on Oct. 29 after the two neighbors shared the Section III Class AA title, the girls soccer Warriors looked to go further when it met Section II champion Niskayuna last Saturday at Fulton.
The difference in this game than the sectional final was that the Silver Warriors, unlike B’ville, did get on the board early, forcing Liverpool into catch-up mode, where it could not get the equalizer it needed, falling to Niskayuna 1-0.
Getting to this point was nothing new for Liverpool, since it had claimed four of the last six sectional championships. In none of the previous three attempts, though, had it won a regional game, and Niskayuna, who like the Bees were undefeated (15-0-3) going into the regional final, wasn’t about to allow the Warriors to reverse that trend.
Before Liverpool could even settle into the game, it was in deep trouble, Niskayuna twice producing great opportunities in the opening three minutes but unable to convert either of them.
Even that didn’t shake the Warriors out of its early doldrums, and in the 25th minute the dots connected for Niskayuna as Olivia Piraino sent a shot past Liverpool goalie Megan Merrifield.
To her credit, Merrifield, ably helped by defenders Divya Duraisamy, Emily Dorr, Drew Patterson and Abby Kovarik, prevented the Silver Warriors from adding to its margin the rest of the way. The only question was whether Liverpool could get itself good chances.
Early in the second half, that started to take place. In the 47th minute, a fast break unfolded, two-on-one, with Bri Kovarik speeding down the wing before passing it to Carli Kovarik, who nailed a great shot – but it went off the post.
Scared by the near-equalizer, Niskayuna changed up its defense, putting four on the back line where three had previously worked. This proved effective, especially in regards to keeping the speedy Bri Kovarik from finding any open ground to run.
Unable to tie it, Liverpool saw its season conclude with a 15-4-1 record, Just four seniors depart, including Emily Heberger, Brisa Salinas, Lynsey Rotha and Emily Wu, but having the Kovarik sisters back, along with Merrifield, Dorr, Patterson, Duraisanny, Leigha Johnson, Morgan Mitchell and Abby Haley, should keep the Warriors in top form in 2017.
All of this followed the boys soccer Class AA regional between Liverpool and Section II champion Bethlehem.
With a state final four berth at stake, the Warriors again played superb defense, but got solved late in regulation and lost to the Eagles in yet another 1-0 decision.
To this point in the playoffs, Liverpool had yet to allow a goal, and had a shutout streak of seven consecutive games. That streak grew in length past 600 minutes against Bethlehem as the two sides worked through a scoreless first half.
Unlike in the sectional final against Fayetteville-Manlius, though, the Warriors enjoyed most of the possession and better opportunities, yet still could not get on the board, especially during a stretch early in the second half where it got three good shots, but saw them grabbed by Bethlehem goalie Ryan Henning, plus a run by Marquis Wright that got cut down by Eagle defenders without a whistle.
This gave the Eagles time to figure something out – which it did with 9:23 let in regulation when Darin Gumustop took a pass from Mark Daley and sent a pretty shot past Ben Bowers into the net.
Though it had a little time to equalize, Liverpool could not do so, unable to keep Bethlehem from advancing to the state Class AA final four in Middletown. Still, the Warriors’ 12-4-4 season would always get remembered as the time belief turned into the end of a 13-year wait for a sectional championship.
