A wild, windy Thursday night in Central New York turned into a woeful one for the trio of local high school boys soccer teams who went into the Section III semifinals.
In the Class B semifinals at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium, Marcellus, the no. 4 seed, dropped a 4-3 thriller to top seed Lowville, while no. 3 seed Westhill saw its season end at the expense of defending champion Skaneateles in a 3-0 defeat.
Meanwhile, in the Class D semifinal at Fayetteville-Manlius, Bishop Ludden held the no. 1 seed, but not that fact, nor its tougher Class C schedule, prevented the Gaelic Knights from exiting the sectional tournament with a 2-1 loss to no. 4 seed McGraw.
Of those three, Marcellus, who finished its season 12-5-1, took the most painful blow, for it had state no. 4-ranked Lowville on the ropes after erasing a two-goal deficit in the second half and had several good chances to take the lead.
But with the score tied 3-3 and just 39.4 seconds left in regulation, the Red Raiders attacked again and Caden Laribee, open at the point, drilled a hard shot that eluded Marcellus goalkeeper Ryan Rosenboom and fit inside the right post for the game-winner.
Right from the outset, the game was fast-paced and frantic. When Lowville wasn’t sending long passes into the Mustangs’ end, Marcellus was making its own runs, and with the defenses finding it difficult to adapt, goals were inevitable.
Just 5:52 into the game, Ross Filtch sent a touch shot past Red Raiders goalie Andrew McLean and off a Red Raiders defender into the net. Less than 90 seconds later, it was 1-1, Frederico Arrigoni answering for Lowville.
Ryan Wood, who scored six goals in his team’s 8-0 sectional quarterfinal win over Canastota and assisted on Arrigoni’s first tally, converted again in the 26th minute when he charged up the middle and Rosenboom, charging out to meet him, could not handle the ball, allowing Wood to punch it into the unoccupied net.
Trailing 2-1 at the break, the Mustangs saw that deficit double when Arrigoni hit his second goal 3:04 into the second half. Only then did Marcellus start to pick up its own attack, counting on Lowville to both wear down and make defensive errors.
Both happened, as Mike Melnyczuk curved in a shot in the 52nd minute to make it 3-2, and with 19:36 to play, a strong series of passes led to Mike Kent taking Nate Kellar’s feed and beating McLean for the tying goal.
With Marcellus continuing to attack hard, the Red Raiders looked to be in big trouble. But with 6:15 left, Lowville counter-attacked and got two great chances to go back in front. Though Rosenboom made one save and the defense kicked away another chance, it energized the Red Raiders and set up Laribee’s decisive shot.
None of that chaos was found in the semifinal that followed. Westhill had proven unable to beat Skaneateles in two regular-season meetings, and the playoff encounter would go in the same direction.
The Lakers’ defense s interrupted Westhill every time it got near the net, and goalkeeper Sam Smith only had to make three saves. By contrast, Skaneateles had a consistent, patient attack that caused the Warriors problems from the outset.
It didn’t result in any first-half goals, but the Lakers certainly noticed that Warriors goalie Antonio Scrimale often drifted far out of the net to meet the ball.
They were still 0-0 when, less than seven minutes into the second half, Scrimale again rushed out of the 18-yard box to Dylan Viscomi, just as Matt Neumann was passing the ball Viscomi, situating on the right side. With a deft touch, Viscomi lobbed the shot over Scrimale’s reach, and the ball kept rolling on the C-NS turf into the net for the only goal that the Lakers would need.
Four minutes later, Scrimale again got caught out of position, and this time Matt Benson made him pay for it with a touch shot from the left side just inside the right post, assisted by Sam Clymer. Even with that two-goal cushion, Skaneateles kept attacking, and converted off a set piece with 2:50 left as Jack Bailey’s free kick got poked into the net by Reggie Buell.
As Westhill’s season concluded with a 13-3-2 mark, its neighbors from Bishop Ludden also found itself one step short of a sectional final. The move down from Class C and a top seed had, in theory, given the Gaelic Knights a glorious opportunity to reach its first final since 2002 and earn its first title since 1999.
McGraw had other ideas, though, and struck first in their semifinal at F-M as Aaron Conklin scored off a feed from Erik Smith. That was the lone goal of the first half, but Ludden stayed patient and, early in the second half, pulled even, 1-1, when Brendan Downey earned a goal, assisted by Tom Muller.
Bryan Lawler, playing in goal for the Gaelic Knights, recorded six saves. Yet he could do nothing when Ludden got called for a foul inside the 18-yard box with eight minutes left, and Aiden Dittman converted the ensuing penalty kick.
Try as it could, the Gaelic Knights could not force overtime, and finished its season with a record of 12-4.
