Plenty has gone well for first-year head coach Molly Brown at her alma mater, but the Liverpool field hockey team reached a new peak in last Monday’s match at Baldwinsville.
Against a Bees side mired in a long scoring drought, the Warriors didn’t let the Bees break out of it and, with a single tally was able to earn a 1-0 victory.
It was quite a turnaround from their first encounter Sept. 9 at LHS Stadium, which B’ville claimed 4-1. Defensive adjustments and a much better end-to-end effort helped the Warriors in the rematch.
Though it was playing defense most of the way, Liverpool made a rare attack pay off in the first half when Emily Haskins, off a feed from Riley Techmanski, put a shot past B’ville goalie Sara Smiley.
All through the rest of the half, plus the entire second half, the Warriors turned back all of the Bees’ attempts to pull even, goalie McKenna Ecker stopping all six shots she faced.
Two nights later, Liverpool visited East Syracuse Minoa and saw things completely turn around as the Warriors lost 4-0 to the Spartans.
A first-half scoring barrage saw ESM get a pair of goals from Angelina Dodge, plus goals from Abby Herrington and Grace Stone. Mary Searle assisted on three of those goals as, in defeat, Ecker recorded 11 saves.
Liverpool’s last regular-season game is Wednesday against visiting Cicero-North Syracuse, who had its own big match last Wednesday night at Bragman Stadium when it tried to upend SCAC leader Fayetteville-Manlius.
The Hornets had started 9-0-1 before taking a 6-0 defeat to reigning state Class C champion Whitney Point on Sept. 28. But when C-NS and F-M first met on Sept. 11, a goal by Lucy Fowler late in regulation allowed the Hornets to pull it out 1-0.
It was the Northstars jumping out in front in the rematch 1-0 thanks to Chrissy Wagner’s goal, but it did not hold. The Hornets tied it, 1-1, by halftime, and then inched out in front in the second half, hanging on to claim a 2-1 decision.
C-NS would now rest until its match with Liverpool, which precedes a Friday-night visit from Camden.
