CENTRAL NEW YORK – A season-opening tournament annually hosted by the Fayetteville-Manlius field hockey team brought together the Hornets and its neighbors from East Syracuse Minoa, who would ultimately square off with the title on the line.
As it turned out, the Hornets’ biggest challenge came in the opening round on Sept. 1, against Cazenovia, where patience and a timely shot helped produce a tense 1-0 win over the Lakers.
For more than 50 minutes, the game stayed 0-0, with the defenses on both ends limiting scoring opportunities.
Then, with eight minutes left, F-M’s Natalie Rameas took a pass from Nora Wilson and flicked a shot past Cazenovia goalie Mackenzie Halliday, which held up.
This followed the opening-round game between ESM and Cortland, where the Spartans steadily wore down the Purple Tigers and claimed a 3-0 decision.
Constantly on the attack, the Spartans broke through with a goal just before halftime, then tacked on two more as Amber Zillinskas led the way, converting twice.
Jenna Orlando earned ESM’s other goal, with Sarah Stadelmann gaining an assist. The Spartans finished with 16 shots to Cortland’s two.
So in the championship game Sept. 2, it was F-M hosting ESM, and unlike the first game the Hornets didn’t wait to get on the board, ultimately overwhelming the Spartans to prevail 4-1.
Four different F-M players – Wilson, Carlye Bryant, Carine Smith and Ella Sanders – picked up the four goals, with Wilson and Ella Herber adding assists.
Preventing a shutout, Marissa Cain converted for ESM off a feed from Reiley Murphy, while goalie Maura Leib, under constant attack all night, finished with 18 saves. Cazenovia beat Cortland 3-1 in the consolation game.
ESM had its home opener last Tuesday against Canastota, and took a 3-1 loss to the Raiders, its only goal coming from Stadelmann as Maura Leib stopped 20 of the 23 shots she faced.
F-M didn’t resume until last Friday, when in the opening round of the Whitesboro Tournament it had its own game with Canastota and had to battle throughout the night to get past the Raiders 3-2.
Wilson, Sophia Lobo and Ella Herber each scored for the Hornets, with Madison Kirkpatrick joining Herber in the assist column. Mia DeVeronica and Hailey DiMao had Canastota’s goals.
Another close game followed in Saturday’s final at Whitesboro, but F-M was able to edge Little Falls 1-0 as Bryant netted the game’s only goal, assisted by Smith.
