It was worth the wait to have the East Syracuse Minoa and Jamesville-DeWitt boys soccer teams go head-to-head in the Section III Class A semifinals, even though they got there by drastically means.
For the top-seeded Spartans, it required regulation, overtime, weather delays and penalty kicks before it finally got past no. 8 seed Oswego last Thursday night, a far cry from the clean, neat 2-0 victory the no. 4 seed Red Rams recorded over no. 5 seed Fowler.
ESM’s game was part of a sectional soccer doubleheader, but the start for the boys was pushed back because the girls Spartans needed four OT periods before surviving Christian Brothers Academy,
Once they finally did start playing, the Spartans had trouble with an Oswego side it had beaten 3-1 on Sept. 23. They played through a scoreless first half this time, battling the elements until, in the 50th minute, a Buccaneers foul created a free kick that Samir Bujubasic curved past the wall and into the net.
In the midst of protecting that 1-0 edge, ESM, along with Oswego, had to go off the field with 17:19 to play when lightning was spotted on the field. Things did not resume for an hour.
And when it did, the Spartans could not add to that one-goal advantage, keeping the Bucs in it. Gradually, the attacks grew more frantic, especially at the end of regulation, and with just 15 seconds left Oswego’s Derek Caramella slipped a shot past Ryan Cacace.
They moved into overtime, where a single “golden goal” would win it, but neither side struck winnigold in those 20 minutes, ESM constantly going after Bucs goalie Carson Smith, only to have him finish with 18 saves.
So the only thing left to do, as the clock in OT ticked away, was go to penalty kicks. With each side taking five shots, the Bucs missed on three of four tries, but ESM converted three of them, with Conor Stack, Nick Scalzo and David Neff beating Smith, and finally prevailed, closer to midnight than to sunset.
Hours earlier, J-D had turned away Fowler without overtime or penalty kicks. Instead, a pair of first-half goals had proven enough, Jake Socia assisting on both of them as Jacob Brazie and Mike Potamianos took turns finding the net.
A bigger story, though, was how J-D’s defense, under constant heat from Fowler’s potent attack, managed to maintain that two-goal margin. Even when the shots weren’t blocked, Tom Bonaccio managed to record 11 saves for the shutout.
J-D beat ESM 1-0 in their lone regular-season meeting on Oct. 1. The rematch carries with it the stakes of advancing to the sectional final later this week against no. 2 seed New Hartford or no. 3 seed Watertown.
Back when the fields were still dry, boys soccer teams from Bishop Grimes and Manlius-Pebble Hill entered the fray of the sectional Class D playoffs, but neither of them got out of the opening round.
For the no. 8 seed Cobras, the defeat was particularly painful because no. 9 seed Old Forge did not score on them in 80 minutes of regulation, nor in 20 minutes of overtime despite the fact that the Eskimos were using a goalie, David Ehrensbeck, just called up from the JV team when starter Waddie Kalil got hurt.
When a tie game happens in the playoffs and OT doesn’t settle it, penalty kicks are required. Five players per team are assigned to kick, one side following the other.
Grimes converted four of the five kicks – but so did Old Forge, leaving it at 4-4 going into another sudden-death round where five more players are lined up, but it never got that far.
The Cobras made its sixth kick, but so did the Eskimos. Finally, in the seventh round, a Grimes shot ringed off the post, so Old Forge’s Tyler Kearns could win it, and he did so, shooting it from the spot to the left side of the net.
At least, with Grimes (who finished the season 9-7-1), it got to overtime, something that didn’t happen for no. 11 seed Manlius-Pebble Hill as it lost its opening-round sectional game to no. 6 seed Madison 3-0.
Most of the damage was rendered by the Blue Devils in the first half. A Trojans foul inside the 18-yard box in the 18th minute led to a penalty kick that Madison’s Ethan Snyder converted. Eight minutes later, Lincoln Pisiak’s shot slipped in to make it 2-0.
Trying to rally early in the second half, the Trojans instead saw the margin grow to three when Tyler Hummer’s shot rattled off the post into the net. The Trojans could not answer, and saw its season conclude with a 5-8-2 record.
