CENTRAL NEW YORK – It still remains true that any path to the Section III Class AA championship in boys soccer still has to include getting past Fayetteville-Manlius.
The Hornets’ strong late-season play not only propelled it to no. 11 in the state Class AA rankings, it also earned another top seed for the sectional tournament with an overall record of 12-3-1 and will play in Friday’s quarterfinals against no. 8 seed Rome Free Academy or no. 9 seed PSLA-Fowler.
That no. 1 seed was clinched last Tuesday night when F-M got a dose of payback against visiting West Genesee, roaring to a 4-1 victory over the Wildcats.
No doubt, the Hornets remembered how WG beat them 2-1 back on Sept. 9 in Camillus and knew that, with a win, it could lock up the top sectional playoff seed.
It took less than 10 minutes for Nick Donnelly to put F-M in front, and Evan Terreri’s header made it 2-0, where it stood at halftime.
Then, in a three-minute stretch midway through the second half, Aiden Burkett and Harrison Kilmer notched goals to double F-M’s margin before Jadin Lyle’s late goal prevented the Wildcats from getting shut out.
Even more impressive was what F-M did Thursday against visiting Nottingham, scoring four times before halftime on the way to a 5-1 victory over the Bulldogs.
In the middle of the surge, Donnelly would notch another three-goal hat trick, adding an assist to finish the regular season with 21 goals and 11 assists.
Helping out, Evan Newton had one goal and one assist, with Tyler Goodman getting the other goals. Tom Helmer, Sam Razmjou and Jakob Mohammed earned one assist apiece.
Manlius Pebble Hill was 6-5 going into last week, but took a 5-1 defeat to Southern Cayuga, who was no. 11 in the state Class D rankings.
Sam Lurvey had the Trojans’ lone goal in the second half, assisted by Alex Fung, but that came after Southern Cayuga built a 3-0 first-half edge. Between them, Kevin Fratostitanu and Abe Salomon had six saves.
Then MPH tied Syracuse Academy of Science 2-2 on Wednesday, with Fung again putting in a goal. John Dalisto had the other tally, with Will Markwood stopping nine of the 11 shots he faced.
Finally, the Trojans returned to the win column Friday by topping rival Faith Heritage 2-1, getting the only goal in the first half and answering the Saints in the second half.
Nick Lurvey and Ayman El-Hindi converted, with Fung and Sam Lurvey getting one assist apiece. Each of Markwood’s eight saves would prove important.
This happened as Bishop Grimes, who was 6-6-2 going into the week, rose back above .500 with a 2-0 home victory over Jordan-Elbridge.
Taking 13 shots, more than double the Eagles’ total, the Cobras converted once in each half, Ricardo Morales and Vitor Azeredo earning the goals as Cooper Boots got an assist. Greg Docos stopped all six shots he faced.
Going to Fabius-Pompey on Friday night, Grimes was humbled in a 5-0 loss to the Falcons, who got two goals and two assists from Grayson Wallace and a three-goal hat trick from Mike Riedl to overcome 10 saves from Docos.
Both Grimes and MPH have opening-round sectional Class D playoffs games early this week – the no, 8 seed Cobras against no. 9 seed Cincinnatus, the no. 10 seed Trojans at no. 7 seed McGraw.
