Six Section III championships in seven years have proven that the Baldwinsville boys soccer team is very difficult to beat when the calendar creeps toward the end of October.
This time around, the no. 3 seed Bees are far from a favorite to win it all again, but even the presence of a 17-0, state no. 1-ranked giant like Fayetteville-Manlius hasn’t kept B’ville from dreaming of another day of glory.
It didn’t take long for the post-season tension to kick in, either. During Saturday’s AA quarterfinal at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium, the Bees were pushed hard by no. 6 seed Christian Brothers Academy, but one well-timed (and slightly controversial) goal near the end of the first half, plus lots of defense, produced a 1-0 win over the Brothers.
Having won the sectional Class A title a year ago, CBA, who plays in the OHSL Freedom division, moved up to Class AA this year for the sectional tournament, beat Rome Free Academy 2-0 in Wednesday’s opening round and possessed a potent attack spearheaded by the likes of Monte Stroman, Matt DePerro and Jake Dinger.
None of this impressed the Bees too much, though. Throughout the first half, B’ville’s back line, led by Connor Ross, Christian Fuller, Evan Smith and Alex Sheperd, broke up anything CBA tried to establish.
At the same time, though, the Brothers were just as effective on the defensive side, protecting goalie Mike Smith, who only had to make one stressful stop in the 30th minute on an unattended free kick.
All of that changed with 16.1 seconds to play in the half. Working down the sideline, Erik Ferrari sent a cross to the middle. Amid a jumble of players in front of Smith, Evan Ingersoll came up with possession and flicked a shot home for the go-ahead goal.
CBA protested the goal, claiming that Ingersoll got his hand on the ball at some point in that sequence, but the goal stood.
Now with a slim lead to protect, the Bees ramped up its defense, again thwarting the Brothers before it could establish any sort of rhythm. The best chance came with 10:50 left, when a free kick by the Brothers was cleared from danger by Ingersoll before DePerro could get to it.
Hanging on from there, B’ville moved on to the Class AA semifinal against another team that moved up from Class A this season – Fowler, the no. 7 seed, who knocked off no. 2 seed Utica Proctor 1-0 after an opening-round win over Henninger. F-M, who routed Liverpool 6-0 to make it 17 wins in a row, meets no. 4 seed Cicero-North Syracuse in the other semifinal.
