When it takes less than 15 seconds to get on the scoreboard in the opening game of the post-season, it’s fair to say that the Skaneateles boys soccer team was ready for the Section III Class B playoffs to get underway.
Refreshed and rested after a brutal mid-season stretch of games, the Lakers, holding the no. 3 seed, sought a sectional championship three-peat, and did not get tripped up during the early rounds.
In all, 14 teams made the sectional tournament, so Skaneateles was the highest seed to face an opening-round game, which it did last Wednesday night when no. 14 seed Vernon-Verona-Sherrill paid a visit – and almost as soon as it kicked off, the Lakers had the Red Devils in trouble, eventually earning a 3-0 victory.
Quickly gaining possession, the Lakers attacked and, off a feed from Matt Benson, Reggie Buell caught VVS goalie Andrew Gowans out of his net and slipped the ball past him. The game was just 14 seconds old.
Stunned by this, the Red Devils were further wounded when, four minutes later, Benson took his turn finding the net to make it 2-0. Things quieted down for a while, but then in the 27th minute Jeff Palmer got his turn to score, assisted by Gabe Konieczny.
To his credit, Gowans recovered from there to make 10 saves, but though the Lakers didn’t score again, it didn’t have to, either, thanks to a defense so effective that the Red Devils managed just one direct shot on Luke Peterson all night.
For the Class B quarterfinal on Saturday afternoon, Skaneateles faced no. 6 seed Watertown IHC, who earned its own 3-0 shutout over Holland Patent to get this far. It also faced the season’s worst playing conditions as a mix of high winds, rain and cold temperatures challenged everyone on both sides.
But Skaneateles met the challenge, earning its second shutout in as many playoff rounds by defeating the Cavaliers 2-0.
A key to it was, again, netting an early goal, and while it wasn’t as quick as the strikes in the VVS game, the Lakers were quite glad to get on the board near the midway point of the first half when Buell, off a cross from Matt Neumann, headed it past IHC goalie Will Magovney.
Were it not for some bad fortune, that 1-0 margin may have grown much larger by halftime. Twice in the latter portions of the half, shots, including another Buell header, went off the post, so aside from his 10 saves, Magovney also got some help from the woodwork.
However, there was nothing Magovney could do about Buell making another big play six minutes into the second half. Drawing the defense close to him, Buell passed it to Benson, who put home the insurance goal. From there, the Lakers’ defense again took over, with the Cavaliers limited to four shots.
And this sets up quite a sectional Class B semifinal Wednesday night at 7:30 at Jamesville-DeWitt High School, with Skaneateles going after no. 2 seed Westhill, whom it couldn’t beat twice in the regular season. The winner of that showdown gets top seed South Jefferson or no. 4 seed Cazenovia in the title game.
