CENTRAL NEW YORK – Though it’s gone through a fair share of early-season struggles, the Fayetteville-Manlius field hockey team also has proved competitive against anyone it had faced.
And the Hornets clearly have bragging rights in the area, too, as it proved last Monday night when it rolled past East Syracuse Minoa 5-0 by gradually seizing control.
Single tallies in each of the first two periods had F-M up 2-0 at the break, but it then netted three goals in the third period to more than double its margin, all due to Carlye Bryant and Sydney Mott.
For the second time this fall, Bryant earned a three-goal hat trick, with the other two goals going to Mott as Bryant assisted on one of those tallies. All told, F-M took 20 shots to the Spartans’ two as Alexa Davis made 15 saves for ESM.
As a follow-up on Wednesday night, F-M bashed Auburn 7-0, scoring in every period but peaking with a four-goal third-quarer barrage where, once more, Bryant proved unstoppable.
Not only did Bryant put in four goals to bring her league-leading total to 12, she tacked on two assists as Mott, Lauren Hills and Elizabeth Kilmer had goals of their own and Audrey Burke contributed an assist.
The struggles for ESM continued in last Wednesday’s 3-0 defeat to Baldwinsville at Spartan Stadium. A pair of second-quarter goals put Bees in charge, and it added another in the third.
Abigail Mantione put in her third and fourth goals of the season. Bianca Capilli converted, too, as twice Kelly Nadzan got assists, with Rylie Rachwal also earning an assist. In defeat, ESM goalies Emily Payne and Alexa Davis combined for six saves.
Two days later, ESM again found itself kept off the board, this time by Morrisville-Eaton in a 5-0 defeat. Five different M-E players – Katelyn Doxater, Molly Orth, Abby Learner, Riley Dutcher and Catherine Jacobs – earned those goals, Orth adding an assists and Allyson McConville two assists.
F-M returned Saturday to face Section V’s Pittsford, where it dropped a 5-1 decision to the Panthers. Peyton Hills scored in the third quarter, but only after Pittsford built a 2-0 halftime advantage, and it would double that margin late.
