The only thing the Cazenovia boys soccer team was certain about was that it wanted a different ending to the Section III Class B playoffs.
Three times in the previous five years, the Lakers had made it to the sectional finals, only to get denied – by Westhill in 2012 and 2016, and by Skaneateles in 2014.
Changing that run of frustration would require, at first, Cazenovia to win twice on its home turf at the Sean Googin Sports Complex, starting with last Wednesday night’s opening round, where the no. 2 seed Lakers handled no. 15 seed Holland Patent 3-0.
Cazenovia’s top-scoring duo of Joe Spires and Ryan Modzeleski proved impossible for the Golden Knights to contain. The only goal of the first half came when Spires passed it to Alex Pezzi, who sent a shot past HP goalie Tucker Garnett.
Thanks to 12 saves from Garnett, the Golden Knights kept it 1-0 until the 55th minute, when a corner kick from Spires got deflected around until Modzeleski put it home. Five minutes later, Modzeleski took Spires’ low, hard pass and put home his second goal to seal it.
On Saturday morning, the Lakers met no. 7 seed Watertown IHC in the sectional quarterfinals following the Cavaliers’ 3-2 first-round win over Central Valley Academy.
And this one was close, too, but Cazenovia pulled it out, 1-0, requiring sound defense throughout the contest as Thomas Bragg stopped all nine IHC shots he faced.
For a long while, the Cavaliers matched that resistance, keeping the game 0-0 for more than 60 minutes. But with 18:58 left in the second half, Spires, taking a pass from Will Harrington, put one past IHC goalie Connor Way, all that was needed.
Back on Wednesday night, Chittenango, who entered the sectional Class B tournament as the no. 8 seed, saw its season abruptly end due to a 2-0 opening-round defeat to no. 9 seed Camden.
Prior to this, the Blue Devils had never won a sectional playoff game, but it played with poise and confidence that the Bears could not stifle.
Chittenango never really recovered from a first half where Camden goalkeeper Josh Leos stopped a Bears penalty kick, plus the rebound, while the Blue Devils took a 1-0 lead on Zack Amo’s goal.
They remained 1-0 much of the way, Leos accumulating 12 saves overall. Then, off a free kick, Jason Richards, who had assisted on the Amo goal, ripped a 20-yard free kick past Noah Schnauffer into the top right corner of the net.
Schnauffer finished the night with eight saves, but he could not keep Camden from advancing to face top seed Westhill as Chittenango concluded with an 11-6 record.
Camden went on to lose in the quarterfinals to top seed Westhill, who will meet South Jefferson in one sectional semifinal Thursday at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium.
Meanwhile, at Jamesville-DeWitt that same night, Cazenovia takes on on. 3 seed Marcellus, who has defeated General Brown 7-0 and Clinton 2-0 in the early rounds. Both semifinals kick off at 5:30, with the winners advancing to next Monday’s sectional final.
