The first week of the Section III boys soccer playoffs featured a lot of suspense, a lot of overtime and a few delays, but in the end most of the top seeds lived to see the semifinals. A few games remain outstanding, so we'll hold talk on all the semifinals until that point.
As for the girls - well, in all the time I've been doing this, I have never seen such a laundry list of shocks and surprises so early in the tournament. Consider...
- Baldwinsville, defending champs, top seed, heavy favorites to repeat in Class AA, but upended by Auburn 1-0 on Laura Taylor's overtime goal. Granted, it didn't help that the Bees had to move the game to Corcoran, but absolutely no one saw this coming.
- Liverpool, the other consensus AA favorite, was in control, leading 1-0 at home against a nondescript West Genesee squad. Then two goals by the Wildcats in three minutes, and just like that, the Warriors' season is over early. Again.
- Whitesboro had the top seed in Class A and hadn't lost until the last week of the regular season. Enter ESM, and one Allyson Rossi, to put up a hat trick, including the game-winner in overtime. A 3-2 verdict, and the Warriors are out.
- And maybe most shocking of all, Marcellus, for whom the semifinals is a given in Class B, losing at home in the quarterfinals to....Solvay? Something magical must have slipped into the Bearcats to pull off that 1-0 surprise - or maybe just a Mariesa Carpenter goal and some inspired defense.
Where does that leave us? Well, with 24 teams still breathing, and no one feeling safe.
The unexpected AA semifinals (set for Wednesday at Marcellus) pit Auburn against F-M and CBA against West Genesee. Perhaps it's the Hornets' turn after a 13-year wait, or maybe the Brothers are too explosive for the rest to handle, but forget trying to predict the thing.
Just the same, Rossi and ESM must worry everyone in Class A, including two-time defending champ Cortland in the semifinals at Henninger. This takes place Tuesday, just after J-D, in search of it first-ever sectional title, gets a look at Watertown on the Henninger turf.
Both of the Class B semifinals go Tuesday to tne north country - Carthage, to be specific - because top seeds Watertown IHC and Lowville live on toward a pair of Frontier/OHSL Liberty duels. The Cavaliers will try to dethrone Westhill, who survived Cazenovia and is finally getting offense from someone other than Kelly Ristoff. As for the Red Raiders, it will try to end Solvay's Cinderella run and make its own unlikely trip to the finals.
They'll decide the split Class C championships on Wednesday at Chittenango, and both games are good ones. First, in C-2, it's Bishop Ludden, owners of eight straight shutouts, trying to knock off battle-tested Utica-Notre Dame, who needed overtime to escape West Canada Valley. Then the C-1 final pits Sauquoit Valley against Tully, perhaps the biggest test the 17-0 Indians have dealt with this fall.
Okay, so one clear-cut favorite is still around. McGraw in Class D is just plain silly, as it dumped eight goals on Oriskany in its quarterfinal. Better yet, a possible semifinal threat from Hamilton got removed by Poland, so it's the Eagles against the Tornadoes at Waterville Tuesday night while, a night later at Carthage, Copenhagen (who needed OT to survive Cincinnatus) gets Remsen.
Somehow, the top four seeds made it through Class D, a rare case of order which contrasts the disorder in the larger schools. Then again, McGraw could get beaten, right?
CATEGORY: Soccer (Football)
TAGS: Section III, girls soccer, first week, recap
