Scattered throughout the last days of August and first days of September, area high school boys soccer teams began their 2019 seasons, each of them sporting plenty of ambition.
East Syracuse Minoa spent the entire offseason burning to start again after a 2018 season where it gained the top seed in the Section III Class A playoffs, only to fall to Christian Brothers Academy in the semifinals.
A big test came right away on Aug. 28 when the Spartans hosted PSLA-Fowler, and with a quick early scoring burst, ESM did enough to defeat the Falcons 2-1.
Sean Belcher, one of Section III’s top returning scorers, converted along with Zach Shufelt in the first half, powering the Spartans to a 2-0 advantage. Ridwan Sirit scored in the second half to inch PSLA-Fowler within one, but ESM held on, helped by seven saves from goalkeeper Almedin Smajic.
Resting until September, ESM began a new month by going to Auburn and flattening the Maroons 9-0, displaying the sort of scoring balance often missing when Belcher took over at times last fall.
Only Todd Durantini scored twice, with Belcher and Casey Hinton each earning one goal and one assist. Ryan Ladd, Aiden Tedesco, Jim Ferns, Max Neuman and Christian Moon each chimed in with goals as Jake Longo, Matt Kenney, Jordan Sanson and Spencer Caramanna got one assist apiece.
Of course, ESM’s main neighborhood rival in the SCAC Empire division is Jamesville-DeWitt, whom the Spartans face this Thursday night, and who opened its season last Thursday by going to Cortland and battling past the Purple Tigers 1-0.
The Red Rams got all it needed when Zach McBennett scored off a feed from Aiden Scott. Then J-D’s defense did the rest, protecting the net and seeing Matt Gera stop all seven Cortland shots he faced.
It wasn’t until Friday night that CBA saw its first action of 2019, taking on New Hartford in the Cicero-North Syracuse Optimist Tournament and pulling out a 2-1 decision over the Spartans thanks to goals by Jack Harrigan and Andrew Kohlbrenner. Ben Vlassis got credit for an assist.
Yet that success did not carry over into Saturday’s game against Marcellus, who had defeated C-NS the day before and now blanked the Brothers 2-0. None of CBA’s 10 shots got past Marcellus goalkeeper Chris Gangemi.
Manlius-Pebble Hill, still under the guidance of coaching legend Don Ridall, began its season with a strong all-around effort last Tuesday against Jordan-Elbridge as it blanked the Eagles 3-0.
Taking 20 shots overall, the Trojans saw Simon Houck convert twice and Gopal Neopaney add a goal, with Brendan O’Malley and Jack Hogan earning assists. Ezra Hanlin stopped all seven J-E shots he faced.
Bishop Grimes opened its season against that same PSLA-Fowler side and lost, 6-1, to the Falcons, with Byam Mugushu’s goal allowing the Cobras to break up a possible shutout.
It was much closer last Tuesday night, but Grimes still lost, 3-2, to Bishop Ludden, with Mugushu scoring twice, only to get topped by the three-goal hat trick by the Gaelic Knights’ Michael Gaughan . In defeat, Matt Tarby made eight saves.