It proved a dramatic and memorable Thursday evening in the quarterfinal round of the boys soccer Section III playoffs, with one local rivalry and another powerful side exiting the stage far earlier than it wanted or expected.
Fayetteville-Manlius, the no. 2 seed in Class AA, suffered a stunning defeat to no. 7 seed Liverpool, ousted 7-6 in penalty kicks after 80 minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of overtime did not lead to a goal.
Meanwhile, in Class A, Jamesville-DeWitt, the no. 6 seed, traveled to Spartan Stadium and ousted no. 3 seed East Syracuse Minoa 1-0 on Sam Bobrek’s goal just past the midway point of the second half.
All season long in the AA ranks, F-M appeared to be the lone serious challenger to defending champion Baldwinsville, giving the Bees its lone blemish in a 2-2, weather-shortened draw at the start of October.
The 14-1-1, state no. 6-ranked Hornets were paired in the sectional tournament with Liverpool, who was once 3-10 before winning its last three regular-season games. F-M had beaten them twice, by a 5-1 margin on Sept. 12 and a 2-0 margin on Oct. 3.
This game was played on the high school stadium Field Turf at F-M, rather than Swan Pond. Perhaps more comfortable on a more familiar surface, the Warriors were able to keep the Hornets off the board throughout regulation and OT.
F-M took 12 shots, all stopped by Dan Schaeber, while on the other end the Hornets were able to resist any time the Warriors threatened, goalie Will Summers holding up well in just his second start after Chris Szidat was sidelined.
So it came down to penalty kicks. Through six rounds, neither side had missed. Going first in each round, Liverpool converted again, and F-M’s seventh shot by Corey Gallagher caromed off the crossbar, ending the Hornets’ season.
Meanwhile, J-D and ESM were also meeting for the third time this season, but these sides had split their regular-season meetings, and would play a close one in their playoff encounter, too.
The Spartans had most of the good chances in the first half, keeping up a consistent attack, but unable to get many close shots against J-D’s back line of Bobrek, Jacob Barry, Alex Pomeroy and Johnny Keib, while sophomore goalie Matt Gera handled every shot he faced.
Then the Rams got some good fortune when, early in the second half, ESM’s Sean Belcher ripped a shot off the crossbar, and minutes later James Ferns had another point-blank chance that sailed wide right.
Having absorbed all this, J-D looked for chances of its own. One arrived with a free kick that, with 18:40 left, turned into the winning goal when the shot deflected back to Bobrek and he curved a right-footed shot into the top left corner of the net.\
Hanging on from there, the Rams advanced to face no. 2 seed Whitesboro in Tuesday’s sectional semifinal at Liverpool, with the winner getting to the sectional title game against PSLA Fowler or Watertown.
Before all this happened, Christian Brothers Academy was ousted from the sectional Class A tournament in last Wednesday’s opening round as the no. 9 seed Brothers fell 5-0 to no. 8 seed New Hartford.
Seton King’s goal 2:30 into the game put New Hartford in front for good. Alex Chiffy added a goal to make it 2-0 by halftime, and the Spartans got away in the second half as Chiffy, Nick Linder and Moaz Elazazzi all found the net. CBA closed its season with a 9-7-1 record.
