BALDWINSVILLE – Even with a move to a smaller group of the largest schools in Central New York, each of the Baldwinsville soccer teams know that winning Section III Class AAA titles will require getting the best of very familiar rivals.
In the case of the girls Bees, who are the no. 3 seed in its AAA bracket and was off last week, it means getting prepared for nearly two weeks before playing Wednesday night’s semifinal at Chittenango against no. 2 seed Liverpool.
It was these same Warriors that edged B’ville 1-0 in the Oct. 12 regular-season finale. The Bees hoped for a different result so it can reach Sunday’s final at SUNY-Cortland against top seed Cicero-North Syracuse or no. 5 seed Rome Free Academy, who beat Syracuse United 3-0 last Friday in the lone opening-round game
On the boys portion of the sectional Class AAA playoffs, B’ville had a no. 2 seed, yet because there was a seven-team field had to play a quarterfinal last Thursday at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium against no. 7 seed Corcoran/ITC.
Scoring in the game’s opening minutes, the Bees claimed control and never let go of it, ultimately building a 3-0 advantage by halftime and going on to claim a 5-0 decision.
Still steaming that a 1-0 defeat to Liverpool on Oct. 14 gave the Warriors the top seed and a bye straight to the semifinals, B’ville displayed its depth, with five different players getting the five goals.
Will Stevens, Ryan Bullis, Ian Price, Mike Sacco and Eoin Burke all took turns converting, with Greg Ramin, Andrew Jung and Marcello Vona all in the assist column. Defensively, the Bees limited Corcoran/ITC to just three shots.
Now, in Tuesday’s AAA semifinal at Fayetteville-Manlius, B’ville would face no. 3 seed Utica Proctor, who ousted Henninger 5-1. Liverpool gets no. 5 seed C-NS in the other semifinal, and the winners meet Saturday at 2:30 at Fulton for the sectional title.
