Only one opponent had found a way to slow down the East Syracuse Minoa boys soccer team this fall – Nottingham, the one which happened to stand in the way of a possible Section III Class AA championship.
Or at least that was the case before Thursday night’s regular-season finale where Jamesville-DeWitt, playing first-rate defense, pushed the state Class AA no. 7-ranked Spartans into overtime and then won 1-0 on Cameron Jackson’s goal.
It was quite a turnaround for the Red Rams, who had lost 3-0 to ESM just 10 days earlier and, what’s more, hadn’t beaten the Spartans head-to-head in its last seven tries.
All of it started with the Rams’ back line, who took a potent ESM attack which was averaging nearly five goals per game and mostly kept it from peppering J-D’s net too much.
What shots were taken got scooped up by Ryan Rigdon, who had eight saves even as he continued to fill in for an injured Griffin Bourcy, and the game remained 0-0 going into OT.
Having absorbed plenty of second-half pressure, J-D was refreshed to make a push of its own, which paid off when Jackson took a long shot that bounced past ESM goalie Mike Godleski and found the net.
Perhaps, for the Spartans, what happened against state no. 5-ranked Nottingham lingered . For the second time this season it went to OT and, again, the Bulldogs came out on top, this time in a 1-0 decision different from the exciting 4-3 overtime battle these two sides waged on Sept. 24.
For 80 minutes of regulation the defenses held up, with both sides having a fair amount of opportunities yet unable to find the net. Godleski had eight saves, a total exactly matched by Nottingham counterpart Conor Leuschke.
Pushed into OT a second time by Nottingham, ESM saw David Nshirimana take a pass from Zak Daniel and take a shot eluding Godleski and giving the Bulldogs the win.
By contrast, J-D had an easy time of it last Tuesday against Oswego, blanking the Buccaneers 7-0 as the Red Rams piled up a season-best five goals in the first half.
Emlie Antoine scored twice, with Bekzod Abdusattorov getting a goal and two assists. Amar Lopez, Aydin Ipek, Dan Kresge and Jisan Lamichhane also picked up goals.
Christian Brothers Academy offered quite a challenge to Westhill, the state’s no. 1-ranked Class B side, and would nearly hand the Warriors its first defeat of the season.
After a scoreless first half CBA struck with Zach Walma’s goal and Rocco Grotto worked his total to nine saves.
However, Westhill equaled it and, in the first of two 10-minute OT periods the Warriors would get the game-winner, having seen Cal Petrone and Eric Holstein earn the goals.
CBA then lost 6-0 to state Class AA no. 13-ranked Rochester Aquinas last Wednesday night, which meant the Brothers finished the regular season with a 6-8-2 mark.
