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Soccer, field hockey teams close in on finals in second week of Section III playoffs

jon rathbun, herkimer times telegram
·6 min read

The first week of post season play in soccer and field hockey pared down the fields in Section III. The second will determine 16 fall champions.

Soccer championships will be contested Friday and Saturday at SUNY-Cortland for the girls, and Saturday and the following Monday at Fulton, Phoenix and Vernon-Verona-Sherrill. The field hockey finals will be played Oct. 29 at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill's Sheveron Stadium.

Here's a look at where these playoff stand midway through. Seeding for football and volleyball will be done Sunday.

New Hartford's Michael Linder heads the ball and scores against Central Valley Academy during Thursday's 2-0 Class A quartrfinal victory at Edick Field. The victory advanced the third-seeded Spartans to semifinal play and sends them to Syracuse for a match Tuesday at Christian Brothers Academy.
New Hartford's Michael Linder heads the ball and scores against Central Valley Academy during Thursday's 2-0 Class A quartrfinal victory at Edick Field. The victory advanced the third-seeded Spartans to semifinal play and sends them to Syracuse for a match Tuesday at Christian Brothers Academy.

More: New Hartford defeats Central Valley Academy in boys varsity soccer. See the highlights

Field Hockey

The Oct. 29 quartet of championship games is one week away and the semifinals are set, starting with Sunday's games at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, the site that will also host the finals and regional playoffs.

Class B plays its semifinals Monday and Class A Tuesday.

Sunday's schedule features the Class C games followed by Class D.

In Class C, No. 1 seed Clinton (14-1-1) plays first at 11 a.m. against two-time defending champion Canastota (7-10-0). Clinton defeated Canastota 4-1 and 5-1 in Center State Conference league play during the regular season and enters its first postseason game with five consecutive wins and a 15-game unbeaten streak (14-0-1). Canastota, seeded fourth, shut out Vernon-Verona-Sherrill 1-0 Tuesday after losing two of its final three, four of its final six and six of its final nine games of the regular season.

No. 2 Cazenovia (11-2-2), winner of four in a row after back-to-back ties, also earned a bye into the semifinals and plays the 12:30 p.m. game against Mt. Markham (12-5-0), the No. 3 seed and a 4-0 winner over Homer Wednesday; the Mustangs have won seven of their last eight games.

The Class D games start at 2 and 3:30 p.m. with No. 1 Little Falls (12-4-0) and No. 4 Weedsport (10-5-2) playing first. Little Falls, the 2021 Class D champion and 2022 Class C runner-up, had a quarterfinal bye and has won eight of its last nine games, four by shutout, while outscoring its opponents 44-6; included in that stretch is a 3-0 win at Class A semifinalist Baldwinsville. Weedsport is 7-1-1 with six shutouts in its last nine games and advanced Tuesday by beating New York Mills 2-0.

Little Falls beat Weedsport 6-1 in the semifinals on its way to the title two years ago.

Defending Class D champion Port Byron/Union Springs (13-2-1) is the No. 3 seed and finished as the runner-up to Little Falls in 2021. The Panthers advanced with a 9-0 win over Sauquoit Valley and next meet No. 2 Morrisville-Eaton (14-2-0), winner of 12 of its last 13 games and the last team to beat Little Falls (2-0 at home Oct. 2).

Class A Baldwinsville (7-10-0), the No. 5 seed, was the only team to win on the road in the quarterfinals and meets top seed Cicero-North Syracuse (13-3-0) in the late game Monday following the 4 p.m. contest between No. 3 Liverpool (13-3-1) and No. 2 Rome Free Academy (15-1-0).

The Class B teams will be well rested when they take the field Tuesday with all four having received byes to the semifinals.

Holland Patent (11-5-0) is the No. 1 seed in search of a sixth consecutive title and pays first at 4 p.m against No. 4 New Hartford (7-9-0), a team the Golden Knights beat 1-0 in last year's championship game and 7-1 in Tri-Valley League play this season. No. 3 Whitesboro (7-9-0) and No. 2 Camden (13-3-0) will play the second semifinal; Camden won twice in Tri-Valley League play, beating Whitesboro 4-2 at home and 4-1 on the road early in the season.

Girls Soccer

The top four seeds advanced through the quarterfinals in classes AA, A and B and were positioned to follow suit in Class AAA.

Among area schools, New Hartford and Whitesboro are in their Final Fours.

Whitesboro (11-6-0), seeded fourth in Class AA, plays No. 1 West Genesee (13-1-2) in the first match Tuesday at Nottingham High School in Syracuse. The second semifinal pits East Syracuse-Minoa (12-3-2) against Fayetteville-Manlius (12-5-0).

Notre Dame's Amanie Jadwick fights off Oriskany's Addison Fabbio (left) Thursday at N.A. Walbran Elementary School in Oriskany. With a 2-1 overtime victory, sixth-seeded Oriskany advanced to meet No. 3 Poland Saturday in the Class D quarterfinals.
Notre Dame's Amanie Jadwick fights off Oriskany's Addison Fabbio (left) Thursday at N.A. Walbran Elementary School in Oriskany. With a 2-1 overtime victory, sixth-seeded Oriskany advanced to meet No. 3 Poland Saturday in the Class D quarterfinals.

More: Oriskany defeats Notre Dame in girls varsity soccer. See the highlights

Unbeaten New Hartford (15-0-1), pursuing a third consecutive title as the No. 2 seed in Class A, plays No. 3 Jamesville-DeWitt (6-10-0) in the second match at Chittenango Tuesday. Indian River (13-2-2) and No. 1 Westhill (14-2-1), last year's Class B champion, play first.

Rome Free Academy had a weekend quarterfinal to play against Syracuse United to determine the final spot for the Class AAA semifinals Wednesday at Chittenango.

The quarterfinals in classes C and D were played Saturday and feed into matches Wednesday at Nottingham and Vernon-Verona-Sherrill. Both classes mostly followed their seeds through the quarterfinals with the top six advancing; No. 10 Dolgeville won a penalty kick shootout in Class C, and No. 9 Sackets Harbor was a 5-3 winner Thursday in Class D.

Six of the eight quarterfinalists in Class C were Center State Conference schools (No. 1 Sauquoit Valley, No. 2 Cooperstown, No. 3 Frankfort-Schuyler, No. 4 Hamilton, No. 5 Westmoreland and Dolgeville) while No. 3 Poland, No. 6 Oriskany and No. 7 Remsen were among the Class D quarterfinalists.

Boys Soccer

The boys had the most spots to fill over the weekend with only Class AAA set for its semifinals through Thursday's competition.

Utica's Proctor Raiders (10-4-1) are seeded third in Class AA and play No. 2 Baldwinsville (13-3-1) in the late match Tuesday at Fayetteville-Manlius, following the contest between Cicero-North Syracuse (6-8-3) and No. 1 Liverpool (12-0-4).

New Hartford (13-3-1), seeded third, advanced to the Class A semifinals with Thursday's win against Central Valley Academy. No. 8 Whitesboro (6-8-1) and No. 10 Vernon-Verona-Sherrill (9-6-2) were playing over the weekend with New Hartford awaiitnig the winner of Vernon-Verona-Sherrill's match against No. 2 South Jefferson (12-2-0). The semifinals will be played Tuesday in Syracuse at Christian Brothers Academy.

Carter Cookinham scored two goals Thursday in top seed Poland's 5-1 win over DeRuyter in Section III's Class D playoffs. The Tornadoes play at home again Monday in a quarterfinal match against Syracuse-Faith Heritage.
Carter Cookinham scored two goals Thursday in top seed Poland's 5-1 win over DeRuyter in Section III's Class D playoffs. The Tornadoes play at home again Monday in a quarterfinal match against Syracuse-Faith Heritage.

Clinton (11-5-0) and Holland Patent (6-10-1) from the Tri-Valley League were in the Class B quarterfinals as four and 10 seeds. Their semifinals would be Wednesday at Fulton.

This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: High school soccer, field hockey teams close in on Section III finals