ONONDAGA COUNTY – As they both got moved into the Class AAA ranks this fall, the Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse boys soccer teams were aware that there was a better chance of a third post-season encounter to go with their usual home-and-home series this fall.
Whether Tuesday night’s showdown at the Gillette Road complex previews a Section III playoff meeting remains to be seen, but if they do so, it will be with the Warriors in the best position.
Liverpool was no. 12 in the latest state Class AA rankings and still undefeated at 7-0-4 going into a pair of games late last week against West Genesee, played less than 48 hours apart.
In the first encounter Thursday night at LHS Stadium, it only figured that the two sides would go to overtime without a goal – and that a mistake, and not a great offensive play, would help the Warriors pull it out 1-0.
WG had won six of its previous seven games, all shutouts, and through 80 minutes of regulation its defense again stood out, equaling what Liverpool did it terms of limiting real scoring opportunities.
Jacob McQuatters stopped all four shots he faced, and the two sides went to OT – where a Wildcats handball inside the 18-yard box set up a penalty kick that Antonio Wilson converted for the game-winner.
Then those same two sides went to Camillus on Saturday afternoon, and it ended up with the exact same result.
Only here, the Warriors didn’t need overtime, converting in the second half as Wilson assisted on Camden Farrell’s goal and hanging on the rest of the way for another 1-0 win, McQuatters recording six saves for his 11th shutout of the fall.
C-NS, meanwhile, found itself meeting state no. 10-ranked Baldwinsville last Tuesday night on its home turf and, again, struggled to generate chances in a 1-0 defeat to the Bees.
They were scoreless through the first half and then into the second half before B’ville was able to net the go-ahead goal. Niko Servider turned everything else back, finishing with seven saves, yet the Northstars could not pull even.
Now the Northstars had to face, on Thursday night, a Henninger side that was 7-2-2 and no. 15 in the state AAA rankings. And it was here that C-NS saw its offense, led by Jackson Petzoldt, awaken in a big way, which was needed to beat the Black Knights 4-3.
Controlling the early stages, the Northstars built a 2-0 halftime advantage. Then Henninger began to strike, converting three times in the final 40 minutes.
But C-NS was able to answer all of it and stay in front, Petzoldt getting his first three-goal varsity hat trick as Hunter Lawless also found the net and Titus Dimitroff earned an assist. For the second straight game, Servider made seven saves.
Against another Syracuse City opponent, PSLA-Fowler, on Saturday afternoon, the Northstars could not hold an early advantage as the Falcons salvaged a 1-1 draw.
Gourav Adikhari’s first-half goal, assisted by Hunter Lawless, had C-NS in front, yet it could not stay there. Poe Hai Soe answered for PSLA-Fowler in the second half and the two sides worked through the rest of regulation and overtime without a resolution, Servider’s eight saves one more than Falcons counterpart Nick Nzabniesha.
Aside from the game with C-NS, Liverpool also has a big game this Saturday when it takes on Baldwinsville, the two sides starting at the possibility of another, more important encounter in the post-season.
