CENTRAL NEW YORK – When the Fayetteville-Manlius field hockey team got a 1-0 win over Cicero-North Syracuse on Sept. 17, it could not afford too much satisfaction about that outcome.
That was because those same two sides would play again 11 days later at Bragman Stadium – and the outcome would be different as the Hornets fell 2-1 to the Northstars.
Part of the irony was that this game was far more balanced in terms of scoring opportunities than that initial game, when it took Kaleigh Hamilton’s 19 saves to help F-M pull it out.
Even with more chances, the Hornets fell behind, 1-0 on Nicole Conklin’s second-quarter goal. And even when Carine Smith put F-M on the board in the third quarter, Sophia Melfi convertted to help C-NS stay in front.
Hamilton only made seven saves this time around, a number that Northstars goalie Avery Richardson equaled to keep her side from getting swept by the Hornets.
Whether this had a lingering effect was an open question as F-M looked to rebound in Thursday’s game against Rome Free Academy but instead were thrashed in a 5-0 loss to the Black Knights.
No one on the Hornets’ defense could contain RFA forward Drew Kopek, who put three shots past Hamilton for a hat trick and added an assist as Alyssa Nardslico and Maggie Closinski had the other goals.
All of this followed F-M’s 4-0 win over East Syracuse Minoa last Monday, the second time the Hornets had prevailed in this local rivalry counting its win in its own season-opening tournament on Sept. 2.
After it lost to F-M, ESM had its own game against C-NS on Thursday and lost, 4-0, with Gabby Wameling scoring twice for the Northstars and Chrissy Wagner adding a goal.
