Twice in a three-day span, boys soccer teams from Marcellus and Westhill shared the same experience of taking the two-time defending Section III Class B champions from Skaneateles to overtime – and beating them.
The Mustangs went first on Monday night, and regardless of circumstances were glad to get any win over Skaneateles in any way. The result was quite different from their first meeting nine days earlier as it dragged into double overtime before the Mustangs put home the game-winner and prevailed by a 1-0 margin.
Skaneateles had, indeed, blasted past Marcellus 3-0 on Sept. 17 at Hyatt Stadium. Now, though, the Lakers were a tired group, having gone all the way to Oneonta for a tournament at the Wright National Soccer Complex the previous two days, where it tied Greene and lost to Goshen.
Marcellus was in no mood for empathy. Instead, it played superb defense throughout 80 minutes of regulation and one 10-minute OT periods blocking all of the lanes and protecting goalie Sam Laduke, who only had to make five saves.
Though it got more chances, the Mustangs kept seeing Skaneateles goalie Evan Goldman (seven saves) stop them – at least until the second OT period, when Nick Distefano flashed a shot past Goldmann and into the net for the game-winner.
Good as that game was, what took place Wednesday afternoon at Westhill provided even more theater. The Warriors trailed early, rallied to take the lead, and then surrendered that edge with less than a minute left in regulation before a quick OT goal rescued a 3-2 victory.
Unlike with Marcellus, Westhill had at least tied Skaneateles 1-1 the first time around, on Sept. 9, but they reached that total in the rematch before the game was 12 minutes old.
Tristan Custer, off a great feed from Reggie Buell, used a sharp shot from the right side to quickly give Skaneateles a 1-0 edge, but six minutes later a foul inside the 18-yard box led to a penalty kick that Bernat Carbonell converted.
Carbonell returned late in the half and, taking a pass from Braeden Elmer, poked a touch shot past a charging Goldman, which gave Westhill a 2-1 halftime lead. It stayed that way through much of the second half, too, the Warriors playing effective defense and goalie Antonio Scrimale accumulating six saves.
Scrimale could do nothing, though, when with 36 seconds left in regulation the Lakers’ Gabe Konieczny sent a corner kick to the middle that bounced around until Custer ripped a shot to the top of the net, forcing the game to OT.
That overtime lasted all of 95 seconds, enough time for Carbonell to charge down the right side, reach the corner and cross it high to Elmer, who struck a perfect, hard shot that Goldman had no chance to stop as it crashed into the net for the game-winner.
Back on Monday night, just as Marcellus was undergoing its drama with Skaneateles, Westhill got a bit of a scare of its own at Chittenango, but got its breakthrough in the latter stages of a 2-0 victory over the Bears.
Just 1-6 going into the game, Chittenango kept the Warriors off the board in the first half and kept it 0-0. Westhill waited until the second half, when Carbonell and Bo BenYehuda and Carbonell netted goals and Xavier Dougherty added an assist, negating Justin Makowski’s eight saves. The Warriors’ defense held the Bears to just three shots.
To gain some local bragging rights on Saturday, Westhill went out and beat West Genesee 2-1, but that took overtime, too, as Lucas Sutherland scored for the Wildcats in the first half and Carbonell matched it.
It stayed that way until the first OT, when Carbonell returned and netted the game-winner. Evan Watt was credited with an assist, while Scrimale picked up five saves, not even half the total of WG’s David Wenner, who had 11 saves.
Marcellus also played on Saturday and whipped Cooperstown 5-0, largely due to Mike Provvidenti, who used his speed and skill to nab a three-goal hat trick as Con Clarke and Brendan Shanahan earned the other goals. Alec Stasyuk and David Bosak had one assist apiece. With the win, the Mustangs improved to 6-4-1 overall.
