A journey of redemption begun by the Fayetteville-Manlius boys soccer team 12 months ago with a narrow defeat to Liverpool in the Section III Class AA championship game ended in that same round, with those same stakes, and another close decision – but a far happier ending.
With Ben Hammond’s goal in the the first overtime period, the Hornets edged Baldwinsville 2-1 in Monday night’s AA final at Jamesville-DeWitt, claiming the program’s record 24th sectional title in the process.
When the ball, deflected in by a Bees player off a corner kick scramble 9:26 into the extra frame, trickled its way into the net, said F-M defender Ryan Varley, “everything felt free. It was a feeling I will never forget.”
All of the Hornets’ players dashed onto the field to celebrate, and ran toward the stands to share the moment with the large F-M student section that braved wind and rain for this occasion.
“Tonight was a great game,” said Hornets head coach Jeff Hammond, and he wasn’t exaggerating.
From the outset of the 2017 season, F-M and B’ville had separated themselves from the rest of the local Class AA crowd. They split two regular-season games, each side winning at home.
Now they came to J-D, where the combination of wind gusts and plenty of precipitation led to a cautious start on both ends. The dynamic changed, though, when Bees starting goalie Donovan Moore exited with a leg injury in the 13th minute.
Nolan Murphy replaced Moore and was dazzling throughout the first half, making at least three superb stops on good long-range F-M shots, keeping it 0-0, where it remained deep into the second half.
With the way B’ville’s defense was playing, it would take an excellent play to get on the board, and in the 58th minute the Hornets delivered it when Cole Teelin sent a perfectly timed pass to the middle, where Noah Craig was open and flung a hard shot out of Murphy’s reach into the net.
Burned by Bees forward Brandon Mimas for two goals the last time these teams met, Varley, Nolan Chiles, Luke D’Amato and Nate Donnella took turns shadowing Mimas and never giving him much space to burn them.
Despite this, B’ville fought back and, with 9:21 left, tied it, 1-1, when Josh Price’s low shot off the point slightly nicked an F-M player and changed direction, tucking inside the left post before Hornets goalie Chris Szidat could get it.
Throughout the rest of regulation, the Bees had good chances, but F-M turned them back, and went into OT in search of the “golden goal” that would decide matters.
Gaining possession midway through the first extra period, the Hornets, through a series of throw-ins, worked the Bees’ defense around until earning a corner kick that Hunter Knutsen sent to the middle.
What followed was a wild scene where F-M and B’ville players tried to move the ball somewhere, Murphy making at least one save. Amid that chaos, Ben Hammond, in the game largely because Craig had left due to an injury, got a piece of the ball and slid it past Murphy for the game-winner.
Now F-M gets to face the same team it lost to in the Class AA regional round the last time it won a sectional title in 2014. At Colonie High School near Albany on Saturday, the Hornets meet Section II champion Shenendehowa with a berth in the Nov. 11-12 state final four in Middletown.
