Once more, in a particularly painful manner, the Bishop Grimes girls soccer team discovered just how tough it is to navigate through the Section III Class C playoffs, regardless of the high regard shown toward them.
Carrying the top seed, an undefeated mark (16-0-1), the state no. 1 ranking and massive expectations, the Cobras went to Fulton for Wednesday’s Class C semifinal, only to get derailed again short of its ultimate goal in a 2-0 defeat to no. 4 seed Beaver River.
Three days earlier, when it had avenged its 2013 playoff defeat to Waterville 4-0 in the Class C quarterfinals at Onondaga Community College, it looked like Grimes had solved the post-season riddle and would not stop rolling until a first-ever sectional banner was attained.
But the Cobras’ path led to Beaver River, who had taken advantage of the Cobras’ early exit a season ago to land its first-ever sectional title, picking up valuable big-game experience that would prove handy here, too.
The Beavers’ defensive intentions were apparent from the opening kickoff – shadow Grimes’ star junior forward, Kennedy Yearby (who had scored all four goals against Waterville), everywhere she went and make it physical and stressful.
All of that worked – and it helped Beaver River that, less than 11 minutes into the game, Raegen Becker broke through the Cobras’ defenses and, taking a pass from Sierra Neddo, sent a shot past Grimes goalie Jillian Firenze.
Rarely this season had Grimes trailed, but now it faced that prospect. Defensively, the Cobras shut the door the rest of the half, with Firenze making a spectacular save in the 20th minute and the back line stepping up, too, which kept the game 1-0 going into halftime.
Everywhere Yearby went, she was shadowed by Beavers defender Caitlin LaBrake, who, with help from her fellow back-line players, continued to frustrate the Cobras’ attack. And when a shot went on net, goalie Mariah Abel grabbed it, earning six saves overall.
Still, Grimes was not in big trouble until Becker, this time unassisted, fired home an insurance goal with 7:32 left. Try as it could, the Cobras could not get on the board, and another superb season had another frustrating conclusion.
Things also ended for Manlius-Pebble Hill’s boys soccer team, whose season ended in its sectional Class C semifinal last Wednesday at Chittenango High School at the expense of a very familiar foe.
The no. 3 seed Trojans lost, 2-1, to no. 10 seed Fabius-Pompey, who moved closer to a third straight sectional title and proved that it was peaking at the right time.
With just a 9-6-1 regular-season mark, F-P did not carry the same expectations as it had during its 2012 and 2013 title runs.
But the Falcons had gone on the road to knock off no. 7 seed West Canada (4-0) and no. 2 seed Utica-Notre Dame (4-1) in the early rounds to set up its shot at an MPH side with which it split a pair of regular-season meetings, the Falcons prevailing 3-0 on Sept. 17, the Trojans claiming the rematch 3-2 on Oct. 9.
They traded goals in the first half, MPH getting on the board with Luke McQueeney scoring off a feed from Ini Oguntola. Yet that was all the Trojans could muster despite all kinds of chances to get in front, thanks to the work of F-P goalie Kory Mawson, who had six saves.
Then, in the second half, the Falcons inched out in front, holding off all of MPH’s comeback attempts. Goals for F-P were credited to Gabe Ray and Donal Escobar-Perez, with John Larkin contributing an assist.
As the Falcons moved on to face Watertown IHC for the Class C sectional title, the Trojans ended a 16-3 campaign that had plenty of great moments, but didn’t quite lead to MPH’s first sectional championship since 2010.
