One obvious takeaway from the early portion of the area high school boys soccer season was the wild direction shifts that teams were taking, at least when compared with the past.
Two teams which had started well, Christian Brothers Academy and Manlius-Pebble Hill, went head-to-head last Thursday afternoon, with the Brothers wearing down the Trojans late to get a 5-0 victory.
It was only 1-0 going into halftime, but CBA’s pressure took a toll and, in the second half, Will Harrigan sparked a getaway, three times assisting on the Brothers’ scoring plays.
Benito Vlassis converted twice, with single goals going to Andrew Kohlbrenner, Jack Griffith and Srvavan Kodaali as Kohlbrenner added an assist. Between them, Trojans goalies Eric Ma and Ryan Kinane had 15 saves.
And this led to Saturday’s game where CBA would challenge its other main neighbor, Jamesville-DeWitt, who had not played since an Oct. 10 loss to Fayetteville-Manlius.
Perhaps that week of rest did the Red Rams well as it pushed past the Brothers 2-1 in a tense battle decided when Sam Bobrek and Jake Mone put in goals, with Ryan Brazell adding an assist. Each of Sam Allen’s six saves proved important.
East Syracuse Minoa won big last Friday, topping Oswego 6-0 to claim its fourth consecutive victory as Henry Callahan and Zach Shufelt both finished with a pair of goals and Shufelt added an assist.
Christian Moon and Todd Durantini had one goal apiece, while Nicolino Paduano, Eric Callahan and Joe Federico also put up assists.
Prior to this, MPH appeared to be on an upward trajectory thanks to last Tuesday’s 2-0 win over LaFayette, which occurred a week after it took down Bishop Grimes.
Again, a well-balanced attack helped as Chance Mugabe and Andrew Warren earned the goals, with assists credited to Johnny Gruninger and Ayman El-Hindi.
Following the defeat to CBA, the Trojans roared back to top form against Pulaski on Friday, pulling away from the Blue Devils in a 6-0 romp.
Up 2-0 by halftime, MPH kept adding to the margin, Mugabe and Alex Fung each netting a pair of goals. Single tallies went to Arman Nizam, who earned two assists, and Jack Hogan.
Bishop Grimes continued to have its struggles in last Tuesday’s game at Cazenovia, where it fell behind 5-0 by halftime and took an 8-1 defeat to the Lakers.
Only Patrick Nimineh’s second-half goal prevented a shutout. Cazenovia had six different goal-scorers, led by J.D. Dolly and Tristan Alvisi, who each found the net twice.
Grimes got far closer in Thursday’s game against Chittenango, helped by 10 total saves from Joel Fasama and Greg Docos, but Arthur Paul’s lone goal helped the Bears prevail 1-0 as the Cobras took six shots, all stopped by Will Simmons.
