When the Fayetteville-Manlius girls soccer team dethroned Baldwinsville last October and earned its first Section III title in 22 years, it only escalated the budding rivalry between the two programs.
Having waited 10 ½ months for a bit of payback on the Hornets, the Bees got it last Tuesday at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium, using a pair of late goals to claim a 2-0 decision.
The strong starts by both teams in 2019 suggest that F-M and B’ville are on a course toward another sectional Class AA final. The Hornets had won each of its first five games, while the Bees were 5-1, having won four in a row since an Aug. 30 loss to New Hartford.
With plenty of skilled players on both sides, a lot of scoring chances were expected, and B’ville got one less than three minutes into the game when Hannah Mimas, who scored eight goals in her previous three games, hit a hard shot from the left side off the crossbar.
And that was as close as the Bees would get to score in the early stages. Though it controlled the early flow of play, B’ville’s opportunities waned, and F-M began to assert itself late in the first half, stretching that effort into the second half.
A series of corner kicks and free kicks taken by Anna Hartzheim gave the Hornets plenty of opportunities to move out in front, but the Bees’ defense were effective in turning them back.
No stop was bigger, though, than the sliding save made by a charging Jenna Boutilier when F-M’s Hannah Knych charged in from the right side for a solo run at the net in the 50th minute. Not only did it keep the game 0-0, the B’ville goalie energized her teammates, who attacked with more consistency the rest of the way.
With 14:09 left, Mimas, working from the right corner, drew two F-M defenders and passed it to the middle, where Pia Cavallaro one-timed a shot that eluded Hornets goalie Sydney Mahr and slid inside the right post.
Not content with that 1-0 lead, B’ville made more key defensive stops, and Mimas returned to clinch it with 2:59 left, taking a pass from Hannah Johnson and drilling a hard shot from a tough angle into the top left corner of the net that Mahr had no chance to stop.
F-M’s chance to get even with B’ville arrives Oct. 7 on the Hornets’ home turf, but in the meantime it had to see how it reacted to its first defeat of the season.
Hosting West Genesee on Saturday afternoon, F-M got pushed here, too, but managed, just in time, to prevent the battle spilling into overtime as it edged the Wildcats 2-1 on a goal late in regulation. Lauren Clark got a goal, with Laura Bonomo picking up an assist.
In boys soccer, F-M roared in last Tuesday’s game at Corcoran, getting to double digits in a 10-0 romp over the Cougars.
Four different payers – Cheech Pagano, Antonino Pagano, Corey Gallagher and Jace DePuy – had two goals apiece, with the Pagano brothers each earning a pair of assists. Riley Warren-Nichols had one goal and two assists, with Ziad Abdul-Malik adding one goal and one assist. Josh Kohlbrenner and Ryan Pollard also had assists.
Back-to-back games followed on Thursday and Friday, F-M first handling Cicero-North Syracuse on Thursday at Swan Pond as it put away the Northstars 3-1.
Goals by Abdul-Malik and Antonino Pagano helped the Hornets offset a goal by C-NS’s Jawadshah Kasimi and create a 2-1 halftime margin.
But the game wasn’t put away until Cheech Pagano, off a pass from Warren-Nichols, found the net with 5:52 to play. Chris Szidat was solid in the net, stopping seven of eight shots.
A night later, at Henninger, the Hornets topped the Black Knights 2-0, and Cheech Pagano set up both scoring plays with assists on tallies by Abdul-Malik and Antonino Pagano.
F-M’s girls will have back-to-back league games early this week against Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse before hosting Chenango Forks on Saturday, with the boys Hornets at West Genesee and Nottingham.
