Having gone through more than enough ups and downs through the first month of its season, the Fayetteville-Manlius field hockey team hoped that all of those struggles would lead to better results against the opponents it would need to beat.
A chance to prove that point came last Wednesday night, at Cicero-North Syracuse, where the Hornets hoped to avenge a 2-0 defeat to the Northstars on Sept. 9, but could not get on the board and lost by that exact same score.
Here, the chances were fairly even, but none of F-M’s seven shots got past C-NS goalie Ally Wagner. All that the Northstars needed was a goal in each half as Julia McDonough and Bailey Lazore earned those tallies.
Before going to C-NS, F-M had a chance to unload on an overmatched opponent in last Monday’s home game against Auburn, setting a season mark for goals on the way to routing the Maroons 11-1.
Seven different Hornets scored at least once, with Lindsey Kilpatrick leading the way as she got a three-goal hat trick, plus an assist. Paige Freyer had two goals, with Liberty Clarke earning two assists. Sarah Beehler, Grace Perry, Maddy Duggleby, Quinn Taylor and Stephanie Drapas had one goal apiece as Susan Bansbach contributed an assist.
East Syracuse Minoa was back on the field Thursday night to face Cortland, where it improved to 6-4 on the season by pulling away in the second half of a 5-0 shutout over the Purple Tigers.
Despite lots of pressure, the Spartans only led 1-0 at intermission, but broke through late as Emma Schafer proved tough to stop, scoring twice and earning a pair of assists. Lindsey Russell and Gillianne McCarthy each had one goal and one assist, with Emma Conte also scoring and Mary Searle contributing an assist.
On Saturday night, ESM hosted Whitesboro, and had a far different result, taking a 1-0 loss to the Warriors. Neither team could get on the board until the second half, when Madeline Krecidio’s goal broke the stalemate. None of the Spartans’ 10 shots got past Whitesboro goalie Jessica Mahardy.
At 6-5 on the season, ESM would host New Hartford Monday and then face back-to-back games against Class A foes as it meets C-NS Thursday after a Tuesday trip to Liverpool, the same side F-M meets Wednesday night.
