MPH, Grimes soccer seasons end in semifinals

Boys Trojans fall, 3-2, to Cooperstown in overtime drama

A young Manlius-Pebble Hill boys soccer team took its quest to repeat as Section III Class C champions all the way to the semifinal round.

But that’s where the quest ended, as the no. 5 seed Trojans fell to top seed Cooperstown 3-2 in overtime in Tuesday night’s semifinal at Sauquoit Valley.

It was a rematch of the 2010 sectional final, won by MPH, and it went back and forth. The Trojans’ Solomon Ochieng gave his side a 1-0 lead in the first half, only to have the Redskins’ Will Derouin answer with a long-range goal just 31 seconds later.

They stayed 1-1 until the second half, when in the 54th minute Michael Rowley, Cooperstown’s leading scorer with 27 goals entering the night, put one past Trojans goalie Cal Dougherty.

Now it was MPH’s turn to rally, as Tyler Greco, with a 30-yard rocket, beat Redskins keeper Kevin Huggins to tie it again 2-2. For the rest of regulation, both sides tried to move in front, but could not.

So it went to sudden-victory overtime. Six minutes into the first of those scheduled 15-minute periods, Cooperstown drew a corner kick. Liam Heneghan hit it, and when Dougherty could not corral Sam Bowen’s shot, Crowley put home the rebound to win it.

A day earlier, the MPH and Bishop Grimes girls soccer teams both exited the stage in last Monday’s Class C-2 semifinals.

The Trojans, who had upset top seed West Canada Valley to get this far, fell 4-0 to no. 4 seed Fabius-Pompey at CBA’s Alibrandi Stadium.

Combined, goalies Katie Blanford and Sammy Appleby had 11 saves. Still, F-P converted twice in each half, which was more than enough as Katelyn DeHart, Amanda Keplinger, Jessie Murphy and Macey Morse each had goals on the Falcons’ behalf.

Over at Chittenango High School, Grimes, the no. 6 seed, took a 2-1 defeat to Morrisville-Eaton, the no. 7 seed, who had already upended no. 2 seed Mohawk to get this far.

Less than three minutes into the game, Jessie Murray put the Warriors up 1-0, but the Cobras countered in the latter stages of the half, Katrina Fandrich converting off a corner kick.

It remained 1-1 until the 63rd minute, when M-E’s Alyssa Matusczak put a shot past Ashley Morgan. All told, Morgan made six saves, but Grimes took twice as many shots, only to get thwarted by Warrior keeper Kim Horton, who had 12 saves. That included great stops on potential goals from Alex Guhin and Seanna Laneve.