CENTRAL NEW YORK – Not that long ago, the Baldwinsville boys soccer team had turned the accomplishment of a Section III championship into an annual affair, as much expected as enjoyed.
However, the feeling of winning a title is universal, something the current Bees got to savor when it defeated Liverpool 1-0 Saturday at Fulton to win the first-ever sectional Class AAA division tournament.
“It came down to the fact that we wanted it more than they (Liverpool) did and we were determined,” said senior captain Jaden Baker.
“We play our best when we need to,” said Will Stevens, who scored the game’s only goal.
It also boiled down to having a tremendous defense that turned the tables on the Warriors, who had leaned so heavily on its own defense all season, recording 15 shutouts in 17 games on the way to a 13-0-4 record.
Two of those shutouts were at the Bees’ expense, each of them 1-0 decisions where, according to Baker, mistakes made on the field contributed to those defeats – the kind of errors B’ville did not repeat in this third and most important encounter.
And it started with Baker, Ryan Bullis, Alec Smith and Tyler Williams, a back line which, from the outset, frustrated Liverpool’s forwards, especially clamping down on Antoino Wilson and rarely giving him space to maneuver.
Goalie Nick Hollingshead said the work of the back line made it easier for him, which was true – Hollingshead only had to handle the ball a handful of times.
Meanwhile, on the other end, players like Nick Ramin and Andrew Jung stretched out the Warriors’ defense and tested it through runs and set pieces, all of which increased B’ville’s confidence.
Then, with less than five minutes left in regulation and the game still 0-0, the Bees broke through – and fittingly, a defender got it started.
Bullis had moved up the field after another Bees charge and gained possession in the left corner. When he crossed to the net, Stevens said he knew he had to go to the far post to have a chance at the ball before Liverpool goalie Jacob McQuatters got it.
When McQuatters hesitated, Stevens outjumped him – and found the net for the biggest goal of his high school career, all that B’ville needed for its first sectional title since 2019.
They got to this point through contrasting semifinals last Tuesday on the turf at Fayetteville-Manlius.
Liverpool had outclassed its other main rival, Cicero-North Syracuse, 3-0 in the first of those games, but B’ville had a far more tense affair, trailing for a while and almost pushed to overtime before ousting no. 3 seed Utica Proctor 2-1.
Jeremiah Nay had scored in the first half, assisted by La Eh Soe, giving Proctor a 1-0 edge it held the rest of the first half. Early in the second half, the Bees got level thanks to Greg Ramin converting off a feed from Marcello Vona.
That it didn’t go beyond regulation was largely a tribute to the strong, accurate leg of Bullis. In the final minute of the second half, B’ville again pushed things, the ball swinging around to Bullis, who found himself more than 30 yards from the net .
The senior let fly with a perfect shot, eluding Fekkic and crashing into the net with just 24 seconds to play, not only winning this game, but previewing what he would do to beat Liverpool a few days later.
In the first-ever state Class AAA tournament, B’ville will meet Section II’s champions in next weekend’s regional round, the winner there advancing to the Nov. 11-12 state final four in Middletown and Goshen.
