ONONDAGA COUNTY – On the first Saturday of October, the Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool field hockey teams met up for the first of two regular-season showdowns.
They got there having gone through plenty of ups and downs in August and September, but as a new month began it was clear the Northstars were trending upward again.
C-NS’s 5-0 win over the Warriors began to unfold in the second quarter, when the Northstars broke open a scoreless game by converting twice.
Another goal followed in the third period and, by the time it was done with two more goals in the fourth quarter, five different C-NS players had found the net.
Chrissy Wagner, with a goal and two assists, led the way. Allison Cole scored, as did Nicole Conklin, Shannon Brown and Allison Wick, with Alyssa Christensen and Maria Wozniczka gaining assists.
Defensively, the Northstars limited Liverpool to just three shots, while maintaining a barrage on Liverpool goalie McKenna Ecker, who finished with 10 saves.
Long before this, C-NS got a valuable victory last Tuesday night when it hosted Fayetteville-Manlius and, getting even with the Hornets, prevailed by a score of 2-1.
They had met just 11 days earlier, on Sept. 17, when the Northstars dominated the flow of play, but saw all 19 shots stopped by Kaleigh Hamilton as F-M pulled out a 1-0 decision.
Part of the irony was that this game was far more balanced in terms of scoring opportunities, but even with that C-NS went up 1-0 on Conklin’s second-quarter goal.
Carine Smith put F-M on the board in the third quarter, but Sophia Melfi converted to help C-NS stay in front as Cole and Gabby Wameling had earned assists.
Hamilton only made seven saves this time around, a number that Northstars goalie Avery Richardson equaled.
Liverpool was 5-3-1 heading into its game against undefeated Baldwinsville last Monday at LHS Stadium, but again was unable to slow down the Bees in a 4-1 defeat.
Having lost 4-0 to this same B’ville side on Sept. 8, the Warriors found turning it around difficult, the Bees steadily producing one goal in each quarter as Julia Schultz scored twice and Bridget Roy had one goal and one assist.
At least Liverpool wasn’t shut out this time, getting on the board in the third quarter when Caitlyn Guilfoil converted off a pass from Gianna Carbone. Ecker finished with five saves.
Two days later, the Warriors handled Auburn 2-0, getting on the board in the second quarter and then doubling that margin in the final period behind goals from Mia Berthoff and Alexis McGregor. Gianna Carbone and Emily Nestor picked up assists.
