CENTRAL NEW YORK – Catharsis was gained by the Marcellus boys soccer team when, in last fall’s Section III Class B final, it ended the reign of its main rival, three-time defending state champion Skaneateles .
The return of both sides last week marked a lively start to the 2024 season, with the Mustangs going to the tournament at West Genesee and facing the host Wildcats on Saturday after taking on East Syracuse Minoa a night earlier.
As it turned out, facing ESM was humbling enough for Marcellus, who lost 6-1 as it had no answer for Joel Alvarez, the Spartans forward who piled up three goals and two assists, helped by Jackson Tedesco, who scored twice.
WG’s own game against Westhill produced a local showdown that would go 2-0 in the Warriors’ favor, the game scoreless until the second half, when Jackson Goodness netted one goal and assisted on Teddy DeMore’s tally. The Wildcats managed just four shots all night.
Turning this around, WG would get the best of Marcellus 3-1 on Saturday afternoon, dropping the Mustangs to 0-2.
Westhill took its shot against ESM, with the Warriors falling to the Spartanas by that same 2-0 margin. ESM got a single goal in each half, one each by Joel Alvarez and Niko Santoro, to overcome 10 saves by Warriors goalie Tom Hunt.
Back on Wednesday night, Westhill opened with a 5-1 win over Watertown where Eric Holstein and Tim Cowin carried the attack, Holstein getting most of his three-goal hat trick in the first half and Cowin converting twice.
Before all this, Skaneateles , who no doubt stewed about that sectional final throughout the off-season, roared last Tuesday night to one of its best goal totals in program history beating Jordan-Elbridge 12-1.
J-E is sharing a team this fall with Cato-Meridian, but they were all overwhelmed by a Lakers attack that netted six goals in each half and was only prevented from a shutout by Riley King’s second-half tally.
Ian Thompson (three goals, one assist) and Cody Crane (two goals, two assists) led the well-balanced attack. Andrew Petercsak also converted twice as Nick Rosetti, Sam Ryan and Shea Musso each had one goal and one assist. Heschel Eidel and Caleb Langford added goals, with Max and Zach Cerimeli both in the assist column.
Two more games followed in the opening week, first a home opener Thursday against Mexico where the Lakers again nearly got to double digits while rolling to a 9-0 win over the Tigers.
For the second game in a row, Thompson netted three goals for a hat trick, aided by Musso, Max Cerimeli and Quinn Cheney earning two goals apiece. Petercsak amassed four assists and Ryan got three assists, with single assists credited to Teague Foley and Cody Crane.
Then, facing Fayetteville-Manlius Saturday at Hyatt Stadium, the Lakers made quite a comeback to pull out a 2-2 draw with the Hornets.
F-M led 2-0 at the break, only to see Skaneateles pull even thanks to Thompson, who netted one goal and assisted on the other by Crane, Petercsak getting the assist on Thompson’s tally. Neither side could decide it in overtime.
J-E/Cato lost a far closer match Friday night 2-1 to Homer, who got two early goals from Ian Small that would negate King’s tally as neither side would convert in a tense second half.
Bishop Ludden looked to improve on last year’s 8-9 mark and claimed its opener last Thursday against Cortland, the Gaelic Knights blanking the Purple Tigers 2-0.
One goal in each half proved enough as Max Boyea and Colden Sheen each scored and assisted on each other’s tallies, Ludden ultimately taking 13 shots to Cortland’ s three.
Solvay met up with Manlius Pebble Hill later on Thursday, with the Bearcats falling 4-1 despite a second-half goal by Jacob Bigelow assisted by Ali Karim. Prior to his goal, Bigelow had played in the net, ultimately combining with Frank Hayden for eight saves.
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