A split of its most recent games showed that the Fayetteville-Manlius field hockey team has improved a lot — but a lot more work remains, too. The Hornets unleashed another all-out attack in last Monday’s game against Auburn, not stopping until it had a 5-0 victory over the Maroons. Gradually, F-M wore down Auburn, producing 23 shots, an average of a shot every two minutes or so, with productive results. Kaitlin Gualtieri, with a goal and two assists, led an offense where five different players got the five goals. Noelle Knox, Kelsey Clark, Cara Esposito and Sarah Lux joined Gualtieri in the scoring column, with Molly Winiecki and Meg Helmer adding assists. The Hornets’ Wednesday trip to Baldwinsville proved far more challenging — and sure enough, a three-game win streak ended as it fell to the Bees 2-1 in overtime. Gualtieri put F-M in front 1-0 with an unassisted goal in the first half. Gradually, the Bees’ attack picked up, and despite Julia Magley’s nine saves, B’ville drew even in the second half on Natalie Lynch’s goal. And it remained 1-1 into overtime, which is a seven-on-seven session, giving players more open field to work with. Lynch exploited this by firing a shot past Magley to give B’ville its first win in five games this fall. This leads the Hornets toward next Wednesday’s big test against defending Class A champion Liverpool at Coyne Field, which falls in between games against Rome Free Academy and Weedsport.