ONONDAGA COUNTY – Back from its trip to Massachusetts, the Cicero-North Syracuse field hockey team had at least some pressure lifted from them as a defeat meant it would not have to worry about maintaining an undefeated mark.
However, the Northstars would have back-to-back games against its two main challengers the Class A ranks, Baldwinsville and Fayetteville-Manlius.
Meeting 5-0 B’ville last Tuesday at Bragman Stadium, the game proved exciting from start to finish, but C-NS could not capitalize on a steady stream of opportunities and lost, 2-1, to the Bees.
Part of the problem for the Northstars was that it had a slow start to each of the first two quarters, allowing B’ville to swarm and attack hard, ultimately converting on Sydney Huhtala’s goal in the opening minute of the second period.
Once it settled down, C-NS made a series of long runs and set up penalty corners – nine of them in the first half and 14 overall. The Bees turned away all of them, though, and twice batted the ball away from the goal line prior to halftime.
Controlling the ball most of the third quarter, the Northstars again could not capitalize and watched as Huhtala scored again late in the period.
It proved the game-winner as Gabby Wameling found the net off a feed from Alexa Snyder with 12:31 left, but even with a lot of time to pull even, C-NS could not do so. These two sides will meet again Oct. 4.
Tough as this was, at least the Northstars got on the board – something it didn’t do on Friday when it traveled to Fayetteville-Manlius and absorbed a 1-0 defeat to the Hornets.
What made this loss even more frustrating was the constant pressure C-NS applied, taking 19 shots, every one of which was stopped by F-M goalie Kaleigh Hamilton.
By contrast, the Hornets only had a handful of genuine opportunities – but cashed in on one of them when Nora Wilson scored off a feed from Sarah Porter, which proved enough.
All of this followed the Massachusetts trip, where on Sept. 11 C-NS lost 2-1 to Longmeadow but then handled Minnechaug 5-2 a day later, fueled by Wameling’s three-goal hat trick. Chrissy Wagner and Gabby Pauilne had the other goals.
Before F-M could face C-NS, Liverpool took a turn against the Hornets last Monday at LHS Stadium and, aided by terrific defense, pulled out a 0-0 draw.
Over 60 minutes of regulation and a seven-on-seven overtime period, the Warriors were limited to three shots. So it had to protect its own end, which it did by forcing a string of F-M turnovers, blocking shots and seeing goalie McKenna Ecker finish with seven saves.
Buoyed by this performance, Liverpool hosted Auburn last Thursday and rolled to a 4-0 victory over the Maroons.
It was Senior Night, and one of the seniors, Gwen Brown, did not have her mother on hand since she was serving in the military overseas. To make up for that absence, several members of the 152nd Air Operations Unit arrived in uniform to escort Brown on this occasion.
Then Liverpool proceeded to take apart Auburn, with Brown picking up an assist along with Jewel Daniels. Four different players – Bri Puccia, Mia Berthoff, Emily Nestor and Gianna Carbone – scored the Warriors’ four goals.
Playing again on Saturday at East Syracuse Minoa, the Warriors got the best of the Spartans 2-0, improving to 4-2-1 overall behind goals from Berthoff and Carbone, with Emma Parker gaining an assist. Controlling the flow of play, Liverpool took 17 shots to ESM’s three.
