A cold, damp October rain could not keep the Fayetteville-Manlius girls soccer team from putting an end to a 22-year Section III championship drought.
So much of what made the 3-2 victory over heavily favored Baldwinsville in the 2018 sectional Class AA final so satisfying was the fact that the Hornets still had a relatively young group of skill players that complemented superb senior goalkeeper Sabrina Suriani and a veteran defensive unit.
And while Suriani and four other starters has graduated, many key players, including Anna Hartzheim, Laura Bonomo and Hannah Knych, have returned, and F-M set out last Thursday on a new campaign with a successful effort as it defeated Rome Free Academy 4-1 last Thursday night.
Knych led the way, pouring in a pair of goals as junior Chloe Hodge got one goal and one assist. Sophomore Lauren Clark earned the other goal as junior Sophia TenEyck got two assists. Sydney Mahr, taking over in goal for Siriani, made four saves.
Now F-M headed to the Hall of Fame tournament at Niskayuna, near Albany, before its league opener Tuesday against Cicero-North Syracuse and a Saturday meeting with Christian Brothers Academy at Alibrandi Stadium.
In the tournament opener, F-M defeated St. Joseph Hill Academy (Staten Island) 5-1, with Hartzheim picking up her first two goals of the season. Katherine Amico, and Lauren Farella also found the net, with Tomlin Cicci adding an assist.
On Sunday, F-M won its division by shutting out MacArthur 2-0. Both goals came in the second half, one from Hartzheim, the other from Clark, as Mahr stopped all four shots she faced.
Meanwhile, the F-M boys soccer team, who struggled with a young lineup in 2018, would seek to return to its usual winning form while undergoing some changes of its own.
One key veteran player, Ben Hammond (son of head coach Jeff Hammond), switched to football for his senior year, but the addition of forward Francesco Pagano has already paid off, as evidenced by last Thursday’s 4-1 win over Henninger at Swan Pond.
Pagano would pour in a pair of goals, with Jace Depuy and Ziad Abdul-Malik also finding the net. Corey Gallagher recorded a pair of assists, while Gavin Isley and Tyler Goodman also earned assists. Chris Szidat and Will Summers combined to make seven saves.
A much more important test would come on Saturday afternoon as F-M hosted its neighbors from East Syracuse Minoa, who was off to a 2-0 start and featured one of the area’s top forwards in Sean Belcher.
Yet Belcher was shut out- and Pagano was unstoppable in the Hornets’ 5-1 rout of the Spartans. Not only did Pagano notch a three-goal hat trick, he assisted on goals by Abdul-Malik and Josh Kohlbrenner as Depuy and Yousef Kamel both had an assist.
