A year away from the top of the Section III Class AA ranks did not satisfy the Baldwinsville boys soccer team all that much.
And what made the Bees’ 2012 ouster from the sectional tournament so frustrating was that it came at home, in the quarterfinal round, to Utica Proctor – and then B’ville had to watch the Raiders make a surprising run to the sectional title.
Put into a similar situation Friday night in the 2013 edition of the AA quarterfinals at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium, the no. 2 seed Bees did not get ousted again, instead clawing its way to a 1-0 victory over West Genesee.
This sets up, for B’ville, an entertaining Class AA semifinal Wednesday night at Nottingham High School against no. 3 seed Liverpool, a team the Bees defeated, 3-2, in overtime back on Sept. 14 at LHS Stadium.
Beat the Warriors, and that would mean a final against Cicero-North Syracuse or Fayetteville-Manlius, who play the other semifinal at Nottingham in a Wednesday doubleheader that starts at 5 p.m.
First, though, B’ville had to worry about West Genesee, the no. 7 seed, who had rolled past Rome Free Academy 4-1 in its opening-round game two nights earlier in Camillus. They shared a common bond of having sent star players to Syracuse University – Alex Bono for the Bees, Stefanos Stamoulacatos for the Wildcats.
They had played Sept. 24, also at Pelcher-Arcaro, and B’ville had routed the Wildcats 4-0. But that was in much nicer conditions than on Friday, where a combination of wet grass and cold temperatures slowed up both sides for large portions of the match.
Fortunately for the Bees, it had got on the board early, as Steve Keegan flashed open and put a shot past WG goalkeeper Tim Fletcher to give his team a one-goal edge.
For the rest of the night, Fletcher shut down all of the Bees’ attempts to add to its lead, finishing with nine saves.
But that didn’t matter, as a stifling B’ville defense, anchored by Erik Ferrari, Connor Ross, Braeden Miles and Alex Sheperd, limited the Wildcats to a pair of corner kicks and a handful of shots.
