Months of work, and years of dreams, accumulated by the Skaneateles boys soccer team went into its 2014 run to the state Class B final four in Middletown. But it only took a few minutes for the ultimate prize of a state championship to drift far away from the Lakers’ collective reach.
Instead of settling into Saturday morning’s state Class B semifinal against Section XI (Suffolk County, Long Island) champion Mattituck, Skaneateles found itself overwhelmed by a series of scoring plays that would produce a five-goal deficit by halftime and an eventual 6-0 defeat to the Tuckers.
Each of the programs had recent state championship glory to draw on, with Skaneateles taking it all on its famous 2010 undefeated side and Mattituck prevailing in 2003.
Yet even that bit of history mattered little once the game kicked off. A morning start and cold temperatures added to the challenge, but even the most die-hard Laker fan could not imagine how difficult it would get – and Tuckers fans could scarcely have dreamed how well it would go.
Less than nine minutes into the game, Mattituck led 1-0, as a series of attacks led to a goal. Four minutes later, it got to 2-0, and only at that point did the Lakers appear to settle into something close to a rhythm, begging to offer better resistance.
It stayed a two-goal margin until the 28th minute, when the Tuckers tacked on a third goal. Fueled by that scoring play, Mattituck found the net twice more as the half wound down, which made it 5-0, the game all but settled.
Even though Skaneateles would battle hard to the final whistle and Billy Patrick made six saves before Evan Goldmann replaced him late in the second half, the Tuckers would not get caught.
Leading Mattituck’s vibrant attack, Mario Arreola and James Hayes each scored twice, with Arreola adding an assist. Walter Jacob and Axel Rodrigues-Canel had the other goals, with Kevin Williams tacking on an assist.
But the rough ending could not erase what the Lakers accomplished in 2014, atoning for a defeat in the previous year’s Section III Class B final by grabbing both sectional and regional crowns and finishing with a 17-3-1 mark. And it took the eventual state champions to end Skaneateles’ run, since Mattituck went on to romp past Beekmantown (Section VII) 3-0 in Sunday’s state final at Middletown.
Patrick, Andrew Weiss, Eli Goodell, Andrew Weiss, Francis Lombardi and Nick Palmer lead a large and strong graduating glass. Yet Skaneateles will still have Sam Clymer, Sam Duggan, Shawn Palmer, Jack Bailey, Reece Eddy and James Motyl, among others, back in 2015, proud of what they accomplished, but wanting to go just a bit further.
