When the Fayetteville-Manlius and Baldwinsville boys soccer teams gathered in the course of the Section III Class AA playoffs, usually that meant something big was at stake – like in 2014, when the Hornets conquered the Bees to reclaim the crown.
A year later, though, these two sides were antagonists two rounds earlier, meeting in Thursday night’s sectional quarterfinal at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium. Again, it was close and, again, it would end in a 1-0 decision – but this time in the Bees’ favor.
Going in, B’ville had most of the momentum, since it had won six straight games, among them a 3-0 win over F-M exactly two weeks earlier, on Oct. 8. The playoff rematch would contain a lot more tension.
They played through a 0-0 first half, and the second half followed in that same manner. The Bees continually attacked, but couldn’t get anything past F-M goalie Mike Baril, who was accumulating eight saves.
At the same time, B’ville’s defense, strong throughout its late-season surge, thwarted all of the Hornets’ attacks, with goalie Andrew Hahn earning six saves. Thus, it remained scoreless deep into the second half, and everyone wondered if it would take overtime, or even penalty kicks, to settle matters.
But it never got there.
With just 2:40 left in regulation, B’ville attacked again. Evan Ingersoll, having emerged as a sparkplug for the Bees’ attack, delivered the timely pass and Pompo, who entered the night with a team-high 11 goals, added his 12th, firing it past Baril for the game-winner.
On the other side of the sectional Class AA bracket, Christian Brothers Academy arrived as a no. 7 seed, bound to take another shot at the Nottingham team that shut them out 3-0 during the last week of the regular season, on Oct. 13.
Nine days later, on that same Nottingham turf, the Brothers and Bulldogs clashed once more, and it mirrored two different outcomes – most notably with the final score as Nottingham knocked out CBA in another 3-0 decision.
Just like in F-M’s game at Baldwinsville, they arrived at halftime 0-0, with Matt DePerro, Jake Dinger and the rest of CBA’s potent attack unable to solve the Bulldogs’ defensive riddle, held to just five shots all night.
Tim Schmitt was tough, too, recording 10 saves in the CBA net. But Nottingham got to him three times in the second half, using its speed and skill to execute scoring plays. Patrick Mugisha, Jean Claude Rukundo and Claude Tuyisihimire each found the net, and also assisted on each other’s goals.
Before that, CBA first had to get past no. 10 seed Central Square in last Tuesday night’s opening-round game at Alibrandi Stadium. Once again, the senior duo of DePerro and Dinger proved far too difficult to handle as the Brothers eliminated the Redhawks 6-2.
During a decisive first half, CBA sprinted out to a 4-0 lead. And it continued from there, DePerro and Dinger both finishing with two goals and one assist as Dean Vlassis and Tom SanGiacomo also found the net. James McGlynn, David Hoag, Lou Moran and Ayo Oguntola earned one assist apiece.
CBA finished its season with a 12-6 mark, while F-M finished at 9-7-1.
