ONONDAGA COUNTY – Seven games, and seven mostly lopsided victories, had the Cicero-North Syracuse girls soccer team alone atop the Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division standings.
Then the Northstars took on Baldwinsville last Tuesday night at Bragman Stadium and, staring at its first deficit of the season, kept its poise and came back to topple the Bees 2-1.
Even before fans could really settle in, B’ville, with a modest 3-3-2 record going into the game, seized a 1-0 lead when Liana Mostrianska put a shot past Avery Byrnes in the game’s opening minutes.
This came during a momentous week for Mostrianska, who moved to the United States in 2019 after living inUkraine. She was just chosen to represent Ukraine’s under-19 national team for the European Championships to take place in late October in the Netherlands.
Much of the half stayed with the Bees out in front, but less than two minutes before the break the Northstars pulled even on McKenna Slate’s goal, assisted by Tori Iannotti, gaining momentum that carried over into the second half.
Despite Alexandra Gomez’s nine saves, B’ville could not prevent C-NS from moving out in front when McKenna Slate, off a feed from Shannon Anderson, converted with 11:34 left in regulation.
All of this followed the weekend a the Wright National Soccer Complex in Oneonta where C-NS had rolled past Oneonta 5-0 and Westhill 4-0.
Against Westhill, a big first half decided matters as Elyssia Germain scored twice. Goals also went to Slate and Julianna Marullo, with Iannotti, Kristyn Dallmann and Ashley Evans getting assists.
C-NS hosted Whitesboro Saturday afternoon and earned a 2-0 victory to run its win streak to nine. Goals by Rio and Bri Dorrance made the difference this time, with Jackson gaining an assist.
Liverpool would host C-NS Wednesday night at LHS Stadium. Before that, though, the Warriors looked to build upon some recent success and did so, even if it didn’t always reflect in the win column.
When facing the reigning Section III Class AA champions, Fayetteville-Manlius, last Wednesday night at LHS Stadium, Liverpool jumped in front early, then held on late for a 2-2 draw.
Alexa Marsh and Jailyn Parotte both struck for first-half goals to counter one from F-M’s Lauren Clark, and solid defense meant the Warriors led 2-1 at the break.
Amid a heavy second-half push, the Hornets tied it when Clark scored again, but from there Liverpool locked down, also keeping it scoreless in 20 minutes of overtime as Margaret Tifft finished with eight saves.
Then it faced Baldwinsville 24 hours later, and despite the difficulty of playing for the fourth time in six days, it stayed close, even if its effort fell short in a 1-0 defeat to the Bees.
Mostly in a defensive mode, the Warriors kept it 0-0 deep into the second half, helped by Tifft’s seven saves. But with 16 minutes left, B’ville’s Macklaeyn Nievel pushed a shot past Tifft for what proved to be the game-winner.
