CENTRAL NEW YORK – Of all the area boys soccer teams going into the Section III playoffs, it’s East Syracuse Minoa who would seem as ready as anyone, given the possible post-season opponents it faced in the last week of the regular season.
It was the Spartans meeting Fayetteville-Manlius Tuesday night and, buoyed by its home crowd, putting together a nearly flawless all-around effort to earn a 3-0 victory over the Hornets.
Remembering that it lost 3-1 to F-M when these met in September, the Spartans would take charge early and keep the Hornets pinned in its own end for long stretches.
Taking 13 shots to F-M’s five, ESM broke through thanks to two goals by Jackson Tedesco and another from Gavin Rinaldi. Try as it could, the Hornets could not generate many good chances against a stubborn Spartans resistance.
Even more important was ESM’s game against state no. 15-ranked Nottingham, another side it lost to early this season (2-0 on Sept. 14) and wanted payback from.
That did not quite happen, but the Spartans were able to earn a 1-1 draw with the Bulldogs, each side scoring once in the second half.
Tedesco put ESM on the board, his goal assisted by Joevany Alvarez. Nottingham countered with a goal from Ebuela Bilengana, assisted by Zakaria Daniel, and neither side could break the tie in overtime, Reide Scolaro finishing with six saves.
This same Nottingham team had toppled Jamesville-DeWitt 4-1 last Tuesday as ESM was beating F-M. The Red Rams’ lone goal came in the second half, but only after the Bulldogs had built a 2-0 halftime advantage.
Connor Burns had that goal, assisted by Logan Oppedisano, but led by Sam Bienvenue’s pair of tallies, Nottingham did get away, with J-D goalies Adam Ridgon and Emir Hodzic making 10 saves between them.
The struggles for J-D continued Thursday in a 2-0 defeat to Central Square. They were scoreless until the second half, when Demetrius Blake assisted on goals by Max Peters and Gavin Ribarovski. None of the Rams’ six shots got past Redhawks goalie Andrew Watrous.
After spending most of the week recovering from the defeat to ESM, F-M offered a strong closing statement on Saturday when, in its own game against Central Square, it defeated the Redhawks 4-2.
Streaking to a 3-1 halftime advantage, the Hornets saw Hugh Terreri, with one goal and one assist, lead a well-balanced attack. Harrison Kilmer, Tyler Koehne and Andrew Nocilly also converted, with Brad Mohammed earning an assist.
F-M, as the no. 7 seed in the sectional Class AA playoffs, hosts no. 10 seed Oswego in Tuesday’s opening round. Win here, and upset no. 2 seed Nottingham in the quarterfinals, and the Hornets might get no. 3 seed ESM in the semifinals if the Spartans get past no. 6 seed Watertown on Thursday night.
Over in Class A, the new sectional playoff point system meant J-D, despite its 5-10-1 record, has the no. 4 seed, playing no. 13 seed Camden in the first round with a berth in the quarterfinals against Carthage or Oneida at stake.
