FULTON – Three different times in a span of less than two months the Liverpool boys soccer team confronted Cicero-North Syracuse and, on each occasion, got the best of this fierce rivalry.

The third and most important encounter, in Wednesday night’s Section III Class AAA semifinal at Fulton, mirrored many other games in this series full of plenty of defense and a single goal making the difference in the Warriors’ 1-0 victory over the Northstars.

Though Liverpool beat C-NS in the first two meetings, they were 2-1 and 1-0 decisions, and the Northstars’ strong conclusion to its regular season following an 0-5-1 start along with a road playoff win at Utica Proctor in the quarterfinals all but assured another tense affair.

Yet whether it was warm temperatures or just the familiarity with one another, the two sides slogged through the early going without many chances on either side.

All of that changed near the midway point of the first half, and Liverpool’s veteran goalkeeper, Jacob McQuatters, initiated it.

Picking up the ball in front of his own net, McQuatters spotted an opportunity to go deep downfield with a kick, which he did. The ball bounced perfectly to his brother, Bobby McQuatters, who with a single one-touch flick lobbed it over the head of Northstars goalie Tuler Munnich.

By the time Munnich chased it down, the ball had found the net, and the Warriors had a margin it would largely spend the last 60-plus minutes of the game protecting.

A stellar Liverpool back line constantly forced C-NS outside, especially in the closing minutes when it needed to cross to the middle.

The Northstars managed just four shots overall, and may have been unlucky as, with less than two minutes left in regulation, a kick to the middle was thought by C-NS players to have gone off a Liverpool player’s hands inside the 18-yard box for a penalty kick.

Nothing was whistled, though, and Liverpool ran it out and got ready for a chance at the best kind of payback in next Monday’s sectional final against Baldwinsville.

On its way to the 2023 state Class AAA final, the Bees upended Liverpool 1-0 in the sectional title game on this same Fulton turf. Now they battle again, B’ville having used a second-half surge to top Fayetteville-Manlius 3-0 in the other semifinal but, like C-NS, having lost both times it faced the Warriors this fall by the familiar scores of 1-0 and 2-1.