ONONDAGA COUNTY – Entering the last week of September, the Cicero-North Syracuse girls soccer team stood in as strong a position as anyone pursuing Section III Class AAA honors.

And if anyone doubted that notion, the state no. 9-ranked Northstars addressed them in a loud way last Tuesday night by defeating reigning sectional Class AA champion Fayetteville-Manlius 3-1.

Never trailing, C-NS inched in front 1-0 by halftime and added two more late as Emilee Rio earned one goal and one assist to lead the charge.

Adrianna Calabria and Julianna Edwards also earned goals, with Maya Germain picking up an assist. Between them, Natalie LaPoint and Meghan McGrath made five saves as F-M counterpart Mackenzie Murphy had seven saves.

At Fulton on Thursday night, the Northstars did not have a letdown, recording a 3-0 shutout as Calabria, Abigail Mackey and Lilah Kelly each netted goals, with assists credited to Rio and Emery Kozdemba.

This led to Saturday’s showdown at Bragman Stadium between C-NS and state no. 11-ranked Baldwinsville, a mere nine days after the two sides played to a 0-0 draw Sept. 21 in B’ville.

Here, it would be different. A goal in each half proved enough for the Northstars to take it, 2-0, as Rio and Mackey put in the decisive goals and assisted on each other’s scoring plays. Again, LaPoint and McGrath combined for five saves.

C-NS came off a Sept. 23-24 tournament where it outscored two Section IV opponents by a combined 17-0 margin.

The Northstars irst wiped out Oneonta 10-0, scoring five times in each half as Rio was again at the forefront, finishing her day with four goals and one assist.

Mackey scored twice and got two assists, with Emily Kozdemba also scoring twice. Julianna Edwards had one goal and one assist as Adrianna Joyce earned a goal and Calabria picked up an assist.

Then, in a 7-0 romp over Elmira, Rio, Mackey and Edwards each found the net twice, Mackey adding three assists and Edwards earning two assists. Julia Debejan put in a goal as Germain and Gianna Melfi also earned assists.

Liverpool also won twice there, blanking Athens (Pennsylvania) 4-0 on Sept. 23 with two goals from Alexa Marsh and single tallies from Grace Muller and Eliana Scivetti.

A day later, Liverpool beat Troy 5-1, led by Muller’s three-goal hat trick as she added an assist. Marsh supported Muller with her three assists as Scivetti and Sydney Zingaro also earned goals.

After resting most of the week, the Warriors were back in action Saturday against unbeaten West Genesee, ending up on the wrong end of a 2-0 defeat.

Despite six saves from Grace Sleeth, the Wildcats saw Anna Nelson put in a goal and assist on the other, by Maria Snyder, dropping Liverpool’s mark to 4-5 as it would meet East Syracuse Minoa and Auburn this week, C-NS taking on Central Square and Syracuse United.