CENTRAL NEW YORK – Whether it was stability on one end or volatility on the other end, three of the area’s high school boys soccer teams would each find the win column early in their respective Section III playoffs.
Fayetteville-Manlius, defending its Class AA title, again was perched as the top seed, having risen to no. 6 in the latest state AA rankings.
In Friday’s quarterfinal, the Hornets faced no. 8 seed Rome Free Academy, who had ousted PSLA-Fowler 1-0 to get this far.
With the winner to face no. 4 seed Cicero-North Syracuse (a 1-0 winner over Baldwinsville) in the semifinals, F-M, led again by Nick Donnelly, found the net often and shut out the Black Knights 7-0.
All that Donnelly did was burn RFA for four goals, spreading his production out throughout the evening as the Hornets led 4-0 by halftime and kept pulling further away. For the season, Donnelly has 25 goals and 11 assists.
Contrast this with what happened in Class D, where Bishop Grimes and Manilus-Pebble Hill had to wait to get underway, but didn’t let it bother them – at least at the outset.
Watertown IHC, expected to be the top seed, was forced to forfeit all its games when questions were raised about the eligibility of three of its players.
IHC appealed in court and lost, but the process delayed the entire sectional tournament and altered the seeding.
Now Grimes found itself as the no. 8 seed, playing at home in last Thursday’s opening round against no. 9 seed Cincinnatus, was able to squeeze out a 3-2 victory over the Lions.
It wasn’t easy, with the Cobras gaining a 2-1 lead by halftime and then answering Cincy’s second-half tally led by the duo of Vitor Azaredo and Diago Medina. Not only did Azaredo score twice, he assisted on Medina’s goal, with Medina also earning an assist.
Grimes would challenge the new top seed, Poland, in Saturday’s quarterfinals, but find itself unable to keep up with the Tornadoes in a 6-1 defeat.
MPH, meanwhile, moved up to the no. 10 seed and, traveling to face no. 7 seed McGraw, was also successful in the opening round, shutting out the Eagles 4-0 with a hat trick from Sam Lurvey.
The Trojans led 2-0 by halftime and doubled that margin as Sam Lurvey not only got three goals, he assisted on Nick Lurvey’s goal as Ayman El-Hindi twice assisted on Sam’s scoring plays. Will Markwood, anchoring MPH’s defense, stopped all five shots he faced.
Then the Trojans faced no. 2 seed Lyme in the quarterfinals on Saturday and, after seeing an early lead get away, went back in front late and held on to win 2-1.
Nick Lurvey’s goal had given MPH that early edge, only to have Lyme pull even, 1-1, before halftime thanks to Jon LaFontaine’s goal.
Through much of the second half, it remained even, but with overtime looming and Markwood having earned eight saves, MPH attacked once more, and with 1:40 left in regulation, El-Hindi kicked home the game-winner.
With the win, the Trojans (9-6-1) advanced to the sectional semifinal against no. 3 seed Mater Dei Academy, who beat MPH 6-2 when they met at the end of September.
