Once more, the topsy-turvy nature of area boys soccer was confirmed as, in the last week of the regular season, Marcellus and Westhill returned to the state Class B rankings – the Mustangs at no. 13, the Warriors at no. 20.
Westhill faced Chittenango last Tuesday night, and the Warriors completed its 11-2-3 regular season by earning a 3-1 victory over the Bears.
By contrast, when Marcellus took on Cazenovia Thursday night on the turf at Chittenango High School, the Mustangs lost in another 3-1 decision.
Matt Kershaw’s first-half goal, assisted by Ryan Lundrigan, helped forge a 1-1 halftime tie, but the Lakers blanked Marcellus in the second half and found the net twice, Joe Spires leading them by earning a pair of goals.
Recovering on Saturday, Marcellus routed South Jefferson 6-0, and would find out Sunday that it held the no. 3 seed in the Section III Class B playoffs – lined up to meet Skaneateles, the no. 6 seed, if the Mustangs topped no. 14 seed Adirondack and the Lakers beat no. 11 seed Vernon-Verona-Sherrill in opening-round games on Wednesday night.
Skaneateles, who was state-ranked until a 4-2 defeat to Cazenovia on Oct. 10 where Tylar Moss and Jack Donovan scored, but those other Lakers got a three-goal hat trick from Spires a week before he would do more damage against Marcellus.
Then, in last Tuesday’s game against Christian Brothers Academy, the Lakers’ defense improved, but it still lost 1-0.
Jack Harrigan’s goal, assisted by Andrew Kohlbrenner, made the difference in the second half. Andrew Neumann made 18 saves, but none of Skaneateles’ 12 shots got past CBA goalie Rocco DeLorenzo.
Westhill drew the no. 4 seed in the sectional tournament and a first-round game with no. 13 seed Oneida, looking at a possible quarterfinal against no. 5 seed Cazenovia, the side it beat in each of the last three sectional finals.
Bishop Ludden, expected to contend in the Class C sectional tournament, won a wild 5-3 battle over Cato-Meridian last Tuesday afternoon for its third victory in a row.
Even more impressive for the Gaelic Knights was traveling to Manlius-Pebble Hill on Thursday and blanking the state Class D no. 13-ranked Trojans by a 3-0 margin.
A first-half goal was followed by two more for Ludden as Michael Gaughan, Liam Casey and Noah Kerwin earned those goals. Asissts were credited to Sam Colella, Axel Rivera and Liam Mahar.
Ludden holds the no. 3 seed in Class C, and hosts no. 14 seed LaFayette in the opening round, a win giving the Gaelic Knights a home quarterfinal against Waterville or Beaver River.
Up in Class AA, West Genesee was enjoying a period of relative success until Oct. 12, when Liverpool arrived in Camillus and handed the Wildcats a 3-0 defeat.
Then, at Swan Pond last Tuesday, WG lost, 4-1, to state Class AA no. 9-ranked Fayetteville-Manlius, with Andrew Lux able to score in the second half, but only after the Hornets took charge with two goals and one assist from Nino Pagano.
On Thursday night, it was WG against Cicero-North Syracuse in a game moved from the grass field at the Gillette Road complex to the Field Turf at Bragman Stadium due to all of the rain of the previous 24 hours.
And it was the Wildcats prevailing 1-0 to finish out an 8-6-2 regular season and complete a sweep of the Northstars, whom it had defeated 4-2 back on Sept. 26.
WG was the no. 4 seed in the eight-team sectional Class AA playoff bracket and will have to beat C-NS, the no. 5 seed, for a third time in Thursday night’s quarterfinal round. The winner gets Baldwinsville or Rome Free Academy in the Oct. 30 semifinals.
Solvay and Jordan-Elbridge went head-to-head last Tuesday night, and the Bearcats prevailed, 1-0, over the Eagles, the lone goal in the first half from Ed Matysuk as the Bearcats held the Eagles to just three shots all night.
Recovering from this, J-E moved to 5-9-2 on the season by defeating Onondaga 3-1 Friday night, with Michael Myer at the center of it all, scoring twice and assisting on Owen Barrigar’s goal as Ken Chiaramonte also got an assist.
