Entering its abbreviated regular-season homestretch, the Fayetteville-Manlius boys soccer team remains impervious to all of the challenges thrown at them.
And none so far proved as close as last Thursday’s battle with Cicero-North Syracuse at Swan Pond, a game that spilled into overtime before the Hornets pulled it out 1-0.
It was far different from the 5-1 romp between these two sides earlier in the month. Much of the 80 minutes of regulation was spent seeing F-M probe and find its way into the Northstars’ end, only to get turned back on a frequent basis.
C-NS, for its part, had a handful of opportunities, making the Hornets’ back line work, but it also proved effective, Ian Donella only having to make three saves.
In the first OT period, Tyler Goodman’s pass found Cheech Pagano, who finally put it into the net for the game-winner, Pagano’s 13th goal of the season.
A second game against Liverpool last Tuesday night at a rain-soaked Swan Pond did not have the same lopsided outcome as their initial meeting, but the Hornets still blanked the Warriors 3-0.
Balanced in its attack, F-M got single goals from Cheech Pagano, Ziad Abdul-Malak and Sam Duncanson (his first of the season), with Nino Pagano contributing an assist.
Christian Brothers Academy handled Faith Heritage 6-0 last Tuesday at Alibrandi Stadium, ably bouncing back from a loss to Jamesville-DeWitt three days earlier.
Tristen Kucera, in particular, would torment the Saints, netting a career-best four goals. Benito Vlassis got one goal and two assists. Jack Harrigan had one goal and one assist, with assists also going to Andrew Kohlbrenner and Tom Homik.
As a follow-up, CBA romped past LaFayette 7-0 on Thursday, with Vlassis roaring to form thanks to a season-best four goals, most of them in the first half off feeds from Kucera, who had three assists.
Single goals went to Homik, Rico Pretrosillo and Steven Spoto, with Connor Morgia, Connor Schmidt, Brinton Mucher and Srvavan Kodaali each getting one assist.
Manlius-Pebble Hill was 2-1, with its lone defeat coming to CBA, when it hosted Chittenango last Tuesday afternoon, but fell back to .500 after a 3-1 loss to the Bears.
Trailing 1-0 at halftime, the Trojans did get on the board with Chance Mugabe’s second-half goal. Still, Chittenango pulled clear, helped by goals from Arthur Paul, Jacob Scheidelman and Andrew Albach.
On Thursday, MPH could not get on the board in a 1-0 defeat to Tully, the Trojans held to three shots as Nathan Zook netted the game’s lone goal for the Black Knights.
Bishop Grimes continued to struggle, falling 5-0 to LaFayette last Tuesday as the Cobras took 11 shots, but they were all stopped by Digby Collingburne and Mark Humphrey. Colin Morel led the Lancers with two goals and one assist.
