In order for the Cazenovia boys soccer team to make a deep run in the Section III Class B playoffs, it would need to win twice at home ,which sounded simple enough – except those games would take place in drastically different conditions against opponents of wildly varying quality.
At first blush, the sectional bracket appeared quite favorable to the no. 4 seed Lakers. South Jefferson, the top seed, hadn’t faced a schedule as difficult as Cazenovia, while no. 3 seed Westhill and no. 3 seed Skaneateles, winners of the last four sectional titles between them, were in the other half of the bracket.
With that as a backdrop, the Lakers entered the post-season fray last Wednesday night in its opening-round game against no. 13 seed Canastota, and didn’t have much trouble with it, jumping out to a big early lead and cruising past the Raiders 4-0.
Any possible stress was relieved when Cazenovia rolled out to a 3-0 halftime advantage. What was even more impressive was that the Lakers did not get any points from top goal-scorer Ryan Modzeleski.
Instead, it was Chris Becker notching his first two-goal effort at the varsity level, with Alex Pezzi stepping up thanks to a goal and two assists. John Williams, Sean McNerney and Joe Spires earned one assist apiece.
It figured to get tougher on Saturday in the Class B quarterfinals. Not only was Cazenovia facing no. 5 seed Clinton, whom it needed overtime to beat 2-1 on Oct. 1, it was also not at home, the Lakers having moved the game to Chittenango High School’s Field Turf in anticipation of brutal weather conditions.
Between the wind, precipitation, cold temperatures and a quality opponent, Cazenovia had plenty to negotiate – but it did so, relying on its defense to turn back Clinton once more and earn a 1-0 victory over the Warriors.
The lone goal came in the first half, so Cazenovia spent a majority of the game protecting its slim advantage. Clinton had plenty of chances to pull even, right down to the final minute, but only when Thomas Bragg turned away a Warriors corner kick as the clock ran low could the Lakers exhale.
In the sectional Class B semifinals, Cazenovia indeed will get a shot at South Jefferson, with the Spartans having topped Phoenix 3-1 in its quarterfinal game, and will play that game again at Chittenango on Wednesday night. The other top seeds held, too, setting up a Westhill-Skaneateles semifinal clash at Jamesville-DeWitt that same Wednesday.
