With two full weeks of practices behind them, the Fayetteville-Manlius and East Syracuse Minoa field hockey teams eagerly set off on their respective 2020 seasons.
Unable to have a Section III Class B championship as a goal after reaching the finals a season ago, ESM would get a major test in last Friday’s opener against reigning sectional Class A champion Baldwinsville.
Even with a brand-new starting lineup, the Bees proved too tough, topping ESM 4-1 largely on the basis of a hat trick from forward Paige Morrissey.
They played on even terms through a scoreless first quarter. Then, 53 seconds into the second period, Morrissey found space on a fast break and, taking a feed from Becca Mantione, put a shot past Spartans goalie Maura Leib.
It remained 1-0 until early in the third quarter. Having not converted on penalty corners, B’ville again succeeded on a fast break, again with Morrissey finding the net off a deft pass from Emma Dugan.
Heavy pressure continued for the Bees until Morrissey, with 11:49 to play, again got loose near the net and, with Mantione again getting the assist, earned her third goal.
ESM did break up the shutout thanks to Rileigh White’s goal three minutes later, and threatened to pull within one in the waning minutes before a point-blank save by Cara Vredenburg on a shot from Abby Herrington. Sydney Huhtala then netted a goal with 30.7 seconds left.
As for F-M, its busy early slate was altered when a scheduled Oct. 2 opener with Whitesboro was postponed. However the Hornets were able to travel to Liverpool last Monday and, with relentless pressure, blanked the Warriors 2-0.
Winning this game required plenty of patience, with F-M constantly getting opportunities and, for the most part, getting turned back as Liverpool goalie McKenna Acker finished with 16 saves.
However, Sarah Porter broke through for a first-half goal, and the Hornets doubled the margin in the second half as Ella Herber put one past Acker.
A day later, it was F-M visiting Cazenovia, and though it had most of the good opportunities throughout the afternoon, the game ended in a 0-0 tie.
Unaccustomed to playing on a natural-grass surface, the Hornets took a while to adjust to the uneven bounces of the ball, but by late in the first half was putting together consistent rushes and drew a pair of penalty corners.
None of it led to goals, though, and the same was true during the second half and 10 minutes of seven-on-seven overtime, as anything close to Cazenovia goalie Mackenzie Halliday was kicked away, Halliday finishing with 10 saves.
Only on occasion did the Lakers counter-attack, though it did so more in the OT period, forcing the Hornets’ defense, led by Lydia Coombs, McKenna Florczyk and Margaret Lorraine to step up in the latter stages.
This led to Friday’s game against Cicero-North Syracuse, off to its own 3-0 start. The big early-season clash would see the Hornets again excel on the defensive side, but still take a 1-0 defeat.
Constant possession by the Northstars kept the ball in the Hornets’ end, with Claire Grenis constantly tested in the net, but able to turn away most of what C-NS threw at her thanks to her eight saves.
It took Jamie Wagner’s unassisted goal to hand F-M its first blemish of the season just before it would take on ESM Monday afternoon, the Hornets traveling Thursday to Baldwinsville. ESM hosts Liverpool and C-NS late this week.
