Still remembering the pain of its defeat to Cicero-North Syracuse in last November’s Section III Class AA final, the Baldwinsville boys soccer team knows that, at the very least, it won’t have to worry about the Northstars again.
C-NS, as the no. 4 seed in Class AA, fell at home to no. 5 seed Nottingham 1-0 in its sectional quarterfinal, meaning it’s the Bulldogs who will go after top seed Fayetteville-Manlius (who beat CBA 4-1 at Swan Pond) in one of the semifinals.
Of course, the no. 2 seed Bees had its own AA quarterfinal to get past, and it did so with authority, Brandon Mimas leading the way as the Bees roared to a 4-0 victory over no. 7 seed Henninger last Thursday night as it just avoided the worst of the wet weather that plagued other sectional games.
Given the way the regular season ended, with losses to F-M and C-NS by combined 9-1 margin, there was reason to doubt B’ville, except for the fact that, for the last decade, it has compiled an astonishing post-season record, with six sectional championships and eight trips to the finals.
Also, the Bees had Mimas on its side, a player with a reputation for making a quick impact on the game.
That certainly was the case against Henninger, with Mimas taking just 51 seconds to get B’ville on the board, scoring off a feed from Michael Brussel. Less than six minutes later, the Bees attacked again, and Mimas found the net again, this time with defender D.J. Taylor making the assist.
With that early cushion, B’ville’s defense returned to its former stingy self, protecting the 2-0 margin until Mimas had a chance to expand it early in the second half, drawing in the Black Knights’ defense until he passed it to Jake Guidone, who slipped in the goal.
As if all that wasn’t enough, Mimas, in the 62nd minute, took a pass from Evan Smith and got it past Henninger goalie Moo Kpo Lo for the hat trick, locking up yet another sectional semifinal appearance for the Bees.
And that semifinal on Wednesday at Fulton will pit B’ville against no. 3 seed Liverpool, whom it beat twice in the regular season, by margins of 1-0 (on a Mimas goal in the game’s first 90 seconds) and 4-0. Win that, and the Bees get into the final against F-M or Nottingham.
