Motivation is not difficult to find in high school sports, especially when the post-season rolls around. For a vast majority of these athletes, these are the most important games they will play, reason enough to want to succeed.
Yet it goes even deeper for boys soccer teams from Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse, who are set to clash next week in the Section III Class AA semifinals.
The no. 2 seed Warriors want to send retiring head coach Doug Nunn out with a first sectional title since 2014. For the no. 3 seed Northstars, it involves not just spoiling those plans, but conquering an archrival, with whom it spilt two regular-season meetings.
Getting to this point required wins by both teams in last week’s sectional quarterfinals, neither of which proved too taxing
C-NS went first, moving over from its usual home at the Gillette Road complex to Bragman Stadium last Wednesday night to face no. 6 seed Henninger, who had beaten Liverpool earlier in the month but dropped two previous meetings with the Northstars.
It turned out that the adage of how difficult it was to beat a good opponent three times in a season did not apply here as C-NS was impressive from start to finish, knocking out the Black Knights 4-0.
Any nerves or pressure wore off once C-NS netted a pair of first-half goals. It then doubled that margin as Joe Baracco went to the forefront for the Northstars’ attack, scoring twice.
Other goals went to Max Euceda and Nate Darko, with Joe Mule and Bryant Perdomo taking credit for assists. And a stingy C-NS defense limited Henninger to one direct shot all night.
Then it was Liverpool’s turn on Thursday night, with Nunn coaching one more home game against no. 7 seed West Genesee. As was the case with C-NS and Henninger, the Warriors were trying to beat the Wildcats for the third time this fall.
And, after some nervous moments early, Liverpool pulled through, helped by Jake Zona’s hat trick as it matched the Northstars with its own 4-0 victory.
For much of the first half, it was scoreless, with the Warriors threatening plenty of times, but not really scaring WG goalie Zach Bolton.
And even when, in the 31st minute, Zona broke open up the middle, took a pass from Brady Barnard and beat Bolton for the go-ahead goal, it stayed close, the Wildcats nearly tying it, but squandering a point-blank chance in the waning seconds of the half.
Any doubts about the outcome vanished, though, when Zona netted a second goal in the 54th minute, assisted by Jordan Burlingame. Zona’s third goal with 13:31 left was assisted by Justin Lombard, who converted himself with less than 90 seconds to play.
Liverpool meets C-NS in one semifinal Tuesday night at 7:30 the second part of a twin bill at Jamesville-DeWitt after top-seeded Baldwinsville, who survived overtime to get past Rome Free Academy 1-0, faces Fayetteville-Manlius in the first semifinal at 5:30.
