For all four years of their high school field hockey careers, Rome Free Academy twin seniors Fiona and Isibeal McMahon have played against Cicero-North Syracuse in the Section III Class A playoffs.
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The past three years, they've met in the sectional final. And in each of the past two, RFA has come away with 1-0 wins.
Both times, Fiona scored the game-winning goal, assisted by Isibeal. Last year, Fiona scored the decider in overtime. This year, she scored off a corner early in the third quarter to lead the Black Knights past the Northstars and to their second consecutive Section III Class A title on Friday night at Camden High School.
"I wouldn't say it was twin-telepathy," Isibeal said. "But like, I always know where she's going to be on the field, we know how each other plays. I can always count on her, know where she's going to be."
C-NS beat RFA in a shootout in the sectional semifinals in 2021 and knocked them out with a 3-2 win in the sectional title game in 2022. After heartbreak in their freshman and sophomore seasons, the McMahon twins now have two sectional championship medals each from their junior and senior seasons.
"It's always such a close game when we play C-NS," Fiona said. "So it really felt great to take it for the second year in a row and bury it in the back of the cage." RFA (17-1) has only lost one regular season game in each of the past two seasons. This year, they fell 2-0 to Nichols, a private school in Buffalo, and last year, their lone regular season loss came to C-NS, 2-0.
The Black Knights and the Northstars met on a rainy Rome night on Oct. 9, and RFA scored on each of its first three shots of the game to go up 3-0 inside five minutes. They won 5-1. Ahead of Friday's game, C-NS head coach Pat Kennedy switched up his team's tactics to go more on the offensive and try to neutralize the McMahon twins.
"They have a lot of great players," Kennedy said. "But we know the heart and soul are Izzy and Fi McMahon, we know that."
Throughout the first half, that strategy worked. Though C-NS didn't muster any shots of its own, goalie Olivia Planty made five saves and RFA's five corners and five shots on goal didn't result in any score for the Black Knights.
It also took a half for RFA to adjust to the turf playing surface, which was slower than what they were used to. RFA head coach Mackenzie Welter credited the McMahon twins for spearheading that adjustment.
Finally, on RFA's eighth corner – and third in the span of a couple of minutes early in the third quarter – Fiona and Isibeal broke through.
RFA noticed C-NS was using a tight press in the middle of the field, so they tried using the sidelines more. But as time went on, the press slowly fell apart, Isibeal said, and the Black Knights saw more openings up the middle.
"It forced us to really have to outrun them in some ways and try to get them to tire out," Welter said. "So I think that played to our advantage in that second half."
Though C-NS drew a corner in the second half, it never did register a shot on goal, while RFA peppered 10 at Planty. The Northstars end their season with an 11-4 record and a fourth-straight appearance in the Class A sectional title game.
"I don't really think anyone expected us to be here because we got hit so hard with graduation last year," Kennedy said. "I was telling the girls, I think they overachieved this year, I don't think a lot of people expected us to be here in the sectional finals but that says a heck of a lot for our players this year."
RFA plays next in the sub-regional game against Section VI's champion at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Webster High School. The Section VI title game is held on Monday at 8 p.m.
Friday could have been the McMahon twins' final game together at RFA. Next year, they're heading to the University of Vermont. But for at least one more game, the twins are still Black Knights and the Black Knights are hoping to keep their run going.
"It's not going to be easy," Isibeal said. "The one thing is our ball movement. We've got to keep the ball movement up. If we move the ball well, we can beat a lot of people."
