CENTRAL NEW YORK – Another big test awaited the Fayetteville-Manlius boys soccer team when undefeated, state Class AAA no. 7-ranked Liverpool brought its 6-0 record to Hornet Stadium last Thursday night. And it proved to be the best moment of the season so far for the Hornets, who gradually wore down the Warriors and pulled out a 2-1 victory to improve its overall record to 4-1-1. Dominic Giamartino scored off a feed from Connor Lynch in the first half. From there, though, Liverpool got nothing more against a steady F-M defense that limited the visitors to just five total shots. Having played the Warriors to a 1-1 halftime tie, the Hornets inched in front in the second half and stayed there, the goals coming from Aiden Burkett and Connor Hutko with assists from Owen Pipes and Henry Dougherty. F-M tuned up for this last Tuesday by trouncing Corcoran/ITC 9-0 led by Dougherty, who put together a three-goal hat trick. Connor Hutko and Tom Helmer each scored twice, with Abdalla Elfituri and Esref Canli adding single goals. Keshav Gangireddy had two assists as Canil was joined in the assist column by Pipes, Jonathan Palmer, Alassan Becker and Tyler Hutz. And after it beat Liverpool, F-M followed it up Saturday at Utica Proctor with a tense, close battle that it would pull out over the Raiders by a 1-0 margin. The decisive blow came early thanks to Tom Helmer finding the net in the first half off a feed from Canli. Consistent from start to finish, the Hornets’ defense held Proctor to five shots, all stopped by Jeremy Albert. Manlius Pebble Hill rebounded from its first defeat of the season Sept. 13 when it shut out LaFayette/Onondaga 4-0, netting all of its goals in the second half as Andy Lurvey had two of them, the others going to Omari Swedi and Owen Hay. Then the Trojans gave up those same amount of goals in last Monday’s game against Mater Dei Academy, yet still pulled out a 6-4 decision in large part because it claimed a 3-1 advantage before halftime. Nick Lurvey, held without a goal in his previous two games, roared back to form with a hat trick here, plus an assist. Brody Cook tacked on pair of goals, with Jack Liddy adding a goal and assists going to Emre Merner, Jacob Temes and Owen Reckess. Far tougher was Wednesday’s game against unbeaten, state Class C no. 9-ranked Bishop Ludden, but the Trojans proved up to the challenge, playing the Gaelic Knights to a 1-1 draw. In fact, MPH went out in front in the first half, hanging to that lead until Jack Marvin converted in the second half for Ludden. The rest of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime went without a game-winner. Still in search of its first victory of 2024, Bishop Grimes faced three tough foes, starting last Monday against reigning sectional Class C champion Fabius-Pompey. Despite goals by Eddie Koroma and Cooper Stewart with assists from Christian Aiello and Cooper Boots, the Cobras lost, 6-2, to the Falcons, who only led 2-1 at halftime but got away late led by Quinlan Yard’s two goals and Jayden Kwasniewski’s three assists. A much closer game followed a day later against Thousand Islands, but Grimes lost, 3-2, to the Vikings, who were led by Zxylan Them’s three-goal hat trick. Another star turn cost Grimes in Friday’s 4-0 defeat to state Class C no. 9-ranked Bishop Ludden, this time from the Gaelic Knights’ Colden Sheen. All Sheen did was notch three assists to go with a goal, twice feeding it to Johnny Huddleston and once to Jack Ruddy.