In two different Section III playoff brackets, area high school boys soccer teams harbored championship dreams that, at the very least, they wanted to maintain through the opening week of tournament play.
Bishop Grimes had the no. 2 seed in Class C, sitting at no. 6 in the state Class C rankings and quite confident that it could make a championship run.
In last Wednesday’s opening round the Cobras took apart Otselic Valley 6-0, netting four goals in the first half to seize control and then converting twice more after the break.
Things were spread around here as the duo of Byam Mugushu and Deng Mawein both scored twice, but so did Jack Gutchess as Mugushu and Mawien each got credit for an assist. Matt Tarby stopped all eight shots he faced in goas.
Now Grimes would face no. 7 seed Thousand Islands in the quarterfinals Friday at Henninger’s Sunnycrest Field, the Vikings having blanked Herkimer 4-0 to get this far, and while it was a bit closer, the Cobras moved past TI 4-1.
Blasting out of the gate, Grimes built a 3-0 halftime advantage, more than enough as Mugushu, aside from his goal, assisted on tallies by Mawien, who scored twice, and Gutchess. Tarby finally surrendered a post-season tally in the second half, but still made nine saves.
And it sets up a potentially epic sectional Class C semifinal between Grimes and no. 3 seed Bishop Ludden. The two sides split their regular-season meetings, and the winner of the third encounter will get South Lewis or Westmoreland/Oriskany in the sectional final.
As the no. 4 seed in Class D, Manlius-Pebble Hill hoped that defeats to Grimes and Bishop Ludden the week before did not carry over into the post-season.
Hosting no. 13 seed Hamilton in last Wednesday’s opening round, the Trojans did what was required, getting out to a first-half lead and eventually defeating the Emerald Knights 3-1.
It went back and forth in the first half until Gopal Neopaney, off a feed from Ayman El-Hindi, scored to put MPH in front, and Jack Hogan doubled that margin to 2-0 late in the half, assisted by Simon Hoke.
Hoke returned to make a fine solo run to the net and score in the second half, and the Trojans’ 3-0 cushion was more than enough to withstand a late Hamilton goal.
Now MPH had a chance to upend no. 5 seed and defending sectional champion Cincinnatus in Friday’s quarterfinal, and amid the damp, cold conditions it proved close all the way – but the Trojans’ season ended in a 1-0 defeat to the Lions.
They battled through a scoreless first half, neither side able to break through. Much of the second half remained 0-0, too, and the longer it went, the more it was clear a single goal might decide matters.
That’s what happened when, with 10 minutes left in regulation, Trojans goalie Ezra Hanlin could not handle a shot near his own crease, and the Lions poked in the decisive goal, hanging on from there.
MPH concluded its season 12-5, but will only graduate four seniors – Hoke, Hanlin, Andrew Benincasa and Brendan O’Malley. A large returning cast for 2020 gives the Trojans plenty of reason to think it will contend again.
