CENTRAL NEW YORK – A lot of love was shown to area high school boys soccer teams when the first large-school state rankings were released.
East Syracuse Minoa rose all the way to no. 3 in Class AA, two spots ahead of Christian Brothers Academy at no. 5, while Jamesville-DeWitt found itself in the no. 12 spot in Class A.
Despite these honors, CBA remembered that its only regular-season blemish in 2022 was a tie with Skaneateles, the eventual state Class B champions.
When these two sides met again last Saturday at Hyatt Stadium, the Brothers won, claiming a 3-2 thriller entirely on the foot of Zack Walma.
All that Walma did was net the only goal of the first half and convert twice more in the second half to counter what the Lakers produced. Juliuz Kemp had an assist as each of Ryan Petrie’s eight saves proved important.
Before this, CBA had its way with Homer last Tuesday, blasting the Trojans 8-1 with 10 different players contributing to the various goals the Brothers put up.
Connor Morgia scored twice more, with Walma also getting two goals. Single tallies went to Sean Broschart, Nick Genovese, Grady Shanly and Xavier Kucera, with Kemp, Rico Petrosillo, Caleb Buddie, Ryan Petrie and Will Kanerviko each making their way to the assist column.
Then the Brothers blanked Chittenango 4-0 on Friday night, led by Morgia, who twice and scored managed assists on both of Julius Kemp’s goals. Gaetano Nasci and Tien Larravey also had assists as Ryan Petrie stopped all seven shots he faced for the shutout.
Back on a rainy Tuesday evening, ESM ran into Fayetteville-Manlius and could only watch as the Hornets, off to a rough start this season, roared to life in a 3-1 victory.
A 1-2 record, along with seeing that lofty state mark for ESM, only seemed to encourage F-M, who surrendered a goal in the first half yet still battled its way to a 2-1 advantage.
Clamping down on defense, the Hornets kept the Spartans quiet in the second half while tacking on an insurance goal. Hugh Terreri and Esref Cadri both scored as Terreri assisted on the other two F-M scoring plays.
These struggles for ESM seemed to carry over into Thursday night’s 2-0 defeat to Nottingham, where the Bulldogs’ defense smothered the Spartans all night.
Nottingham goalie Conor Leuschke made six saves, and got all the help he needed from a goal in each half, with Mao Nkurunziza, Ebuela Billengana and Luke Scanlon involved.
Also playing on Thursday night, F-M took its own 2-0 defeat, to Baldwinsville, held to just four shots all night by a stingy Bees defense that took over after Ian Price twice found the net.
J-D took on Nottingham last Tuesday and managed to earn a 1-1 draw with the Bulldogs. Sam Bienvenue’s first-half goal got Nottingham in front, but the Red Rams’ defense contained things from there.
Emile Antoine tied it in the second half off a feed from Sam Brazell. Then overtime did not decide the matter as Emir Hodzic amassed 10 saves, two more than Bulldogs counterpart Conor Leuschke.
Another low-scoring game followed on Thursday night against Central Square ,but J-D was this time kept off the board as it lost to the Redhawks 1-0.
Neither team could get on the board until the second half, when the Rams gave up the go-ahead goal and watched Central Square’s defense proect it, limiting J-D to just four direct shots all night.
