East Syracuse Minoa earned its own bit of boys soccer bragging rights last Tuesday night when, amid a thick early-September fog, it hosted Jamesville-DeWitt and earned an impressive 2-0 victory over the Red Rams.
Before the game was six minutes old, the Spartans had a 1-0 lead courtesy of Ty Mulcahey’s goal. That slim margin remained for most of the night as both sides had to deal with the fog, a result from still air and plenty of moisture from rain the previous 24 hours.
J-D kept it close thanks to a tough defense that withstood all of ESM’s charges until Eric Callahan doubled the lead with 15 minutes to play. Though the Rams had several of its own opportunities, the Spartans turned them all back, Ryan Cacace finishing with nine saves.
ESM paid a visit to Camillus on Sept. 2 to open its season at West Genesee, a game where the Spartans were unable to get on the board as it fell 2-0 to the Wildcats.
For more than a half, ESM kept it scoreless, yet also was frustrated in its multiple attacks as WG goalie David Wenner recorded 12 saves. Meanwhile, the Spartans got beat twice in the second half as Manuel Garcia-Flores and Ricky Francisco scored for the Wildcats.
Following their head-to-head match, ESM and J-D both won games on Thursday, as the Spartans handled Auburn 4-1 and the Red Rams blanked Central Square 2-0.
A big first half saw ESM bolt to a 3-0 lead on Auburn. No one on the Maroons could stop Kyle Scalzo, who scored twice and assisted on the other two goals as Safet Suljic also found the net.
As for J-D, it toppled Central Square with a goal in each half, one each by Tarak El-Zammar and Jalique Huntley, with Joe Bertone earning an assist. Combined, goalies Alex Carbacio and David Tyler stopped all eight Redhawks shots they faced.
Even with the momentum from its Aug. 30 overtime win over J-D, it didn’t carry over for Christian Brothers Academy into the back-to-back games it played at Liverpool on Labor Day weekend.
In the first of those two games, the Brothers lost, 2-1, to Nottingham on Sept. 1, Tommy Daviau’s first-half goal helped forge a 1-1 tie, but the Bulldogs got in front in the game’s latter stages as Matt Houck and Juma Hussein netted goals, negating Matt Buck’s eight saves in the CBA net.
Just 24 hours later, and in much warmer conditions, CBA fell to host Liverpool 3-1. The defending Section III Class AA champion Warriors had lost, 1-0, the day before to PSLA-Fowler, and that had not sat well.
So Liverpool proceeded to play at a quick pace, and it may have worn the Brothers’ defense down. Daviau struck for his second goal in as many days to tie it, 1-1, but the Warriors broke that tie in the final minutes thanks to Abe Haley’s pair of goals. Buck kept things close by making 12 saves.
CBA quickly rebounded last Tuesday night at home, handling Solvay 5-1. All of the Brothers’ goals came in the first half as Daviau scored twice, with Hunter Burton, Dan Melvin and Tristain Kucera also scoring. Ayo Oguntola had two assists as single assists went to Dean Vlassis, Matt Potenza and Tom Homlik.
In its appearance at the Cicero-North Syracuse Optimist Tournament last weekend, CBA lost, 3-0, to Cicero-North Syracuse, but rebounded to beat Utica Proctor 3-1 in the consolation game, getting away late as Melvin and Benito Vlassis each had one goal and one assist, with Burton earning the other goal. Daviau picked up an assist.
Manlius-Pebble Hill played on Sept. 1 and defeated LaFayette 2-0. its second straight win by that margin after handling Stockbridge Valley in a similar manner.
A goal in each half was enough to subdue the Lancers as Josh Hutko and Naldo Chen earned those goals, with Simon Hoke and Camden Ciotoli earning assists. Stew Falso finished with six saves.
Then the Trojans faced long-time rival Faith Heritage on Tuesday and routed the Saints 7-0. A deep, well-balanced MPH attack included Hoke and Hutko each scoring twice, with Hutko adding two assists. Dan Mezzlingua had one goal and one assist as Chen and Charlie Mann also found the net. Brendan O’Malley got an assist.
At Onondaga on Thursday afternoon, MPH made it four straight wins, trimming the Tigers 3-0 as it scored twice in the first half to gain control. Two of the Trojans’ goals came from Hoke, with Josh Hutko also converting.
Bishop Grimes won a tough 3-2 battle over Cato-Meridian last Tuesday afternoon, edging in front, 2-1, by halftime and matching the Blue Devils’ tally in the second half with one of its own.
David Cifonelli had a part in all three scoring plays, scoring twice and assisting on Connor Alexander’s tally. Grimes overcame goals by Cato’s Gavin Carvey and Logan Hampton, each of them assisted by Chad Thompson. Combined, Cobras goalies Matt Tarby and Ethan Fritz had nine saves.
Grimes then shut out LaFayette 2-0 on Thursday, with a goal in each half by Alexander proving enough, along with a defense that faced plenty of challenges from the Lancers, yet kept them off the board as Tarby stopped all seven shots he faced. But the Cobras lost, 3-0, to Chittenango on Saturday afternoon.
