ONONDAGA COUNTY – Two tournament victories in as many weeks – one at home, the other at Whitesboro – helped the Fayetteville-Manlius field hockey sprint to a 4-0 start.
And none of those wins meant as much as what the Hornets did last Friday against Cicero-North Syracuse, a side that did not lose a single game in 2020 – but fell here at F-M in a 1-0 decision.
No doubt, the Hornets remembered that, a season ago, it got close to C-NS in both of their head-to-head meetings, only to take 1-0 and 2-1 losses.
That it was even close on this occasion was a tribute to the resilience of F-M’s defense, which spent most of the game pinned in its own end, withstanding a steady stream of Northstars attacks.
Whether it was in the flow of play or in penalty corners, the Hornets turned them all back and got a memorable effort from goalie Kaleigh Hamilton, who managed to stop all 19 shots she faced.
Maybe the fact that C-NS did not have to defend that much hurt it because, when F-M did get a chance, Nora Wilson, taking a feed from Sarah Porter, put in the game’s only goal.
When league play for F-M got underway last Monday night at Liverpool, the Hornets were kept quiet and had to settle for a 0-0 draw against the Warriors.
Off to a 2-2 start, Liverpool would find itself in a defensive mode most of the night. However, none of F-M’s seven shots got past Warriors goalie McKenna Ecker.
East Syracuse Minoa was back in action last Tuesday night, against Homer, where it took a 3-1 defeat as Sara Cargen scored twice for the Trojans and the Spartans saw 10 of its 11 shots turned away by Emily Daniels.
Off until Saturday, ESM would have its own game against Liverpool at Spartan Stadium – and also get kept off the board by the Warriors, who prevailed 2-0 on goals by Mia Berthoff and Gianna Carbone.
