Even with its rampage through opponents like Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool, the Fayetteville-Manlius boys soccer team only garnered the no. 17 spot in the first state Class AA rankings, 10 places behind no. 7-ranked Baldwinsville.
All of that could change, though, if the Hornets won its head-to-head showdown with the Bees Tuesday night at Swan Pond – though first, F-M had to get through some more Salt City Athletic Conference tests first.
And none proved more nerve-wracking than F-M’s visit to Nottingham last Tuesday night, a game that was scoreless through regulation before Riley Burke delivered the decisive blow in a 1-0 overtime victory over the Bulldogs.
Nottingham’s defense did a tremendous job throughout the night, turning away a full slate of Hornets chances. Ben Ashby made 10 saves, and the Bulldogs didn’t sit back, either, having its fair share of opportunities to get in front, only to get thwarted as F-M goalie Tim Kaiser had eight saves.
So they were still 0-0 going into OT, but Cole Teelin, denied so many times in this game, sent a pass to Riley Burke, whose shot eluded Ashby and found the net to give the Hornets its most stressful victory of the season.
F-M looked for a bit less stress when it faced Henninger Thursday night. Home for the first time in two weeks, the Hornets rolled to a 6-1 win over the Black Knights, scoring three times in each half, converting on a third of its 18 shots.
What’s more, it got spread around, with only Noah Craig scoring twice. Single goals were credited to Burke, Hunter Knutsen and Alex Bychkov, with Grant Olick-Sutphen and Corey Gallagher joining Burke in the assist column.
To end this busy week, F-M traveled to the Gillette Road complex Saturday night and faced the same Cicero-North Syracuse side it beat 2-0 back on Aug. 31. Here, not only was the opponent similar, so was the result, a second straight 2-0 shutout of the Northstars.
What was different was that C-NS kept the Hornets off the board in the first half. The tension built until Ryan Varley took charge, twice offering timely passes that Burke and Bychkov turned into decisive goals. The Northstars could not answer, held to three shots by an improving F-M defense.
Even before it entered the Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division fray, the F-M girls soccer team knew it had a lot of work to do. Then the Hornets took on defending Section III Class AA champion Liverpool last Wednesday night, and played on even terms most of the way, though it ended with a 2-1 defeat to the Warriors.
An early goal by Alex Vinci, assisted by Anna Hartzheim, helped F-M to forge a 1-1 halftime tie. Still, Liverpool went back in front in the second half and stayed there as Bri Kovarik and Abby Haley earned Liverpool’s goals to overcome five saves by Sabrina Suriani.
The Hornets lost a 1-0 non-league decision to Victor (Section V) last Monday night, mostly holding the Blue Devlis in check except for a first-half goal. Suriani finished the night with five saves, just as she would against Liverpool.
After all of this frustration, F-M returned to the win column Saturday with a 2-0 shutout of Oneonta. Both goals came in the first half, courtesy of Hartzheim and Cady Barns as Gillian Stuhler and Hannah Knych got credit for assists.
