MANLIUS – When the first New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class AAA boys soccer championship is awarded next Sunday at Middletown High School, Baldwinsville has an opportunity to make its own kind of history, too.
Having never won a state title when it was in Class A or AA, the Bees earned a spot in the state final four Saturday with a dramatic 2-1 overtime victory over Section II’s Shaker in the regional finals at Fayetteville-Manlius.
Andrew Jung was the one who delivered the game-winner just before the 10-minute mark of the first OT, converting his sixth goal of the season off a feed from Greg Ramin. It was Jung’s first goal in four weeks, just when B’ville needed it.
Before that, a large measure of this narrative centered around the Bees’ goalies, and the mere fact that it had to use two of them spoke plenty about the excitement of the match.
Shaker had gone up 1-0 near the midway point of the first half on Owen Brant’s goal, this after he almost converted earlier in the half, denied by a diving stop from Bees goalie Nick Hollingshead.
And it was Hollingshead who, on a penalty kick in the 30th minute, sprinted in from his goal line to put it past Blue Bison netminder C.J. Strand just a few minutes after Strand had stopped another penalty kick.
That it remained 1-1 through the rest of regulation had plenty to do with who else was in net for the Bees.
The defenses took over for a large portion of the second half, with both sides easily turning the other back. Then, with 13:54 left, Brant got open inside the 18-yard circle and, before he could shoot, Hollingshead fouled him.
Not only did that mean a penalty kick, it would have to be without Hollingshead, who was issued a yellow card and had to leave the field.
Enzo Falso now came into the game. Without much time to prepare, the sophomore faced Brant for the penalty kick – and stopped it, easily the most important save of his high-school career.
Still with all of the momentum as regulation ended, B’ville carried it over into OT, twice nearly scoring in the first 90 seconds and continuing with the pressure until Ramin found Jung open in front of the net, and Jung, after a couple of moves, fit the ball past Strand.
B’ville now will go to the state Class AAA semifinal where, next Saturday night at 5:45, it will face Section VI champion Lancaster, with the winner to get to next Sunday’s title game at 2 p.m. against Arlington or Brentwood.
