FULTON – Nearly three hours of building tension in Monday night’s boys soccer Section III Class AAA championship game at Fulton boiled down to two kicks.
Already Baldwinsville had secured a second straight sectional title, having played Liverpool to a 1-1 draw through regulation and two overtime periods which meant that the two rivals would share the sectional honors.
However, only one team could move on to the state tournament, so the Bees and Warriors went to penalty kicks – six of them, as it turned out.
And when five rounds didn’t settle the matter, a sixth round was required. B’ville’s Will Stevens went first, and he converted, ripping the ball into the top left corner of the net.
Stevens said he had seen Liverpool goalkeeper Jacob McQuatters dive left in previous attempts and guessed he would do again. His guess was correct.
Now it was the Warriors’ turn. Dominic Paolini stepped up against Sawyer Barr, the goalie who had taken over mid-season and, in his previous 10 games, had surrendered just one goal.
Paolini went low, inside the right post. Barr dove and secured the ball. Within seconds, Barr was celebrating with teammates and B’ville students who poured onto the field to celebrate the Bees’ latest state tournament trip.
“I just picked a side to go to,” said Barr. “A lot of it is just confidence.”
All of it proved a remarkable end to a remarkable game, one where B’ville was trying to repeat its victory over Liverpool in the 2023 sectional final on this same Fulton turf while, at the same time, trying to avenge two regular-season defeats to the Warriors.
The two sides scored nine minutes apart in the first half, Dylan Blaisdell heading in an Aidan Holcomb free kick to put the Bees in front and the Warriors answering with Albin Buja’s terrific drive down the right side and a perfect cross that Bobby McQuatters headed past Barr.
What made Barr’s heroics in the shootout even more remarkable was the fact that he spent a good portion of the game’s late stages as a spectator, well-protected on defense and seeing the Bees dominate the flow of play, especially in the second half when it had the wind at its back.
Yet all of that possession did not lead to a go-ahead goal, though Jack Dutter hit a hard shot off the crossbar and Aidan Holcomb had a great attempt tipped over the net by Jacob McQuatters in a flurry early in the second half.
By the time they reached penalty kicks, Liverpool had regained the momentum, then really seemed to take charge when McQuatters stopped Dutter in the opening round. But then Barr, who said he was “scared” going into the shootout, did the same on the Warriors’ first attempt from Connor Lynch.
After it missed in the second round, though, the Bees adjusted. Holcomb, Nick Sacco and Michael Sacco all made their shots, and when Barr turned back Christian Hope in the third round, the two sides were even.
Cam Farrell and Bobby McQuatters made their attempts to send it to the sixth round. Stevens said he had not done well practicing penalty kicks but knew that he would go sixth if the shootout went that far, and he didn’t miss, echoing the goal he scored to win the 2023 sectional final.
B’ville then faced the Section II champions, Shaker, Saturday at West Genesee’s Mike Messere Field in the regional final, looking to return to Middletown for the Nov. 16-17 state final four at the expense of the same Blue Bison team it beat in the regional round last November.
With another state final four berth at stake, though, it was the Blue Bison getting the best of it, prevailing in a tense 1-0 battle.
For more than 70 minutes of regulation B’ville’s defense was stellar, turning back a steady wave of Shaker attacks and opening up the possibility that it could again pass this hurdle
But with 7:08 left in regulation, another Blue Bison charge led to the decisive goal when the ball got lobbed to the middle and Kofi Sarfoh headed it past Barr.
The Bees were unable to answer it, and Shaker reached the state final for the first time in its program’s history as B’ville concluded a season where it started 1-5-1 before turning it around with eight straight wins on the way to the sectional championship.
