For nearly a decade, fans of the Cicero-North Syracuse boys soccer team had to watch someone else celebrate at the end of the Section III Class AA playoffs – especially Baldwinsville, who claimed the title a total of six times in eight years, and four of those times defeated the Northstars on the way to the crown.
All of this made Monday night’s 2-0 victory by C-NS over the Bees in the title game at Fulton even sweeter, for it not only reversed the sad recent history of this long-time rivalry, it also gave the Northstars its first sectional title since 2006.
No wonder Bitz did a back flip when he scored his insurance goal midway through the second half. He shared his joy with his teammates, coaches and a large crowd of C-NS partisans, some of whom even ran onto the field after the final whistle and took a picture in front of one of the nets.
“It’s unbelievable,” said senior Matt Bitz. “We didn’t take a day off, and we did what we had to do.”
Head coach Mike McCaffery said his team’s commanding effort in the final was a culmination of work done by these players that, in some instances, dated back to grade school.
“This group has been together a long time,” said McCaffery. “And (for all those years) they were getting ready for this game.”
Having knocked off the top two seeds in the sectional tournament on this same Fulton turf in the Oct. 29 semifinals – C-NS edging no. 2 seed Nottingham 1-0, B’ville upending top seed Liverpool 2-1 in overtime – the finalists appeared evenly matched.
Not only that, but both of their regular-season meetings in September ended in draws – 0-0 at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium on Sept. 8, 2-2 at the Gillette Road complex two weeks later.
Right from the outset, though, C-NS carried the action, both with a set of forwards that made the Bees’ defenders work, plus an experienced defense that never let B’ville’s front line find much room to maneuver.
Waiting for an opportunity, the Northstars capitalized in the 29th minute when a Bees handball led to a free kick 20 yards from the net. Austin Mizell took it from the right side, and the ball flicked off Zach Spenard’s foot past B’ville goalie Andrew Hahn.
That one-goal margin looked a lot larger in the hands of C-NS’s defense. Between them, Mizell, along with fellow seniors Matt Pike, Evan Gakeler and Ryan Gilbert, shut down whatever B’ville tried, and goalie Matt Siegel did well, too, stopping all six shots he faced, including a key stop on Stan Jensen’s free kick early in the second half, the best chance the Bees had to pull even.
Yet the game was still in doubt when, with 17:49 left, the havoc caused by Lucas Roberts during his constant runs down the wings paid off when Roberts, on the right side, drew in defenders, and then crossed to Bitz, who flicked it past a charging Hahn, and then did his back flip.
Try as it could, the Bees could not get on the board, just as Henninger and Nottingham were unable to do as C-NS continued a shutout that dated back to Oct. 15 and a first-half goal allowed in a 3-1 win over Fayetteville-Manlius.
In Saturday’s AA regional final, C-NS meets Section II champion Ballston Spa at Colonie High School, near Albany. Game time is 3 p.m. The winner between the Northstars and Scotties (who survived penalty kicks with Shaker in its sectional final) advances to the Nov. 14-15 state final four at Middletown.
“We’re going to do all that it takes to win,” said Bitz.
