After a 2-0 win at home over Manlius Pebble Hill on Sept. 11, Tully head coach Bill Donald said he knew those two teams would square off two more times. Once was already on the schedule, but Donald has proven to be prophetic at the No. 2 Tully boys soccer team will take on No. 3 MPH in the Section III Class C semifinals at 7:30 p.m. today at Fayetteville-Manlius High School.
The Trojans won the second matchup on their own home field 3-0 on Oct. 8. This time, the game will be played on a neutral, turf field, which senior midfielder Connor Bastedo feels favors his Black Knights.
“I think we’re a different team on turf,” Bastedo said. “Our speed shows more, Ryan shows more. The touch on the foot is way better and way different.”
Tully started its season 10-1 and lost four of five to end the regular season. Some of that can be attributed to some key injuries, with star forward Julian Shay’s nagging hamstring being the most notable.
The Black Knights have bounced back to win their two sectional games by a combined score of 11-1. The players attribute that to a more positive and fun-loving mentality.
“The mentality thing is a big reason of why we’re starting to play well,” senior goalkeeper Oscar Breitzka said. “We’re more focused on the positive things and the fast pace during the game.”
Both teams have gone through ups and downs this season and have come out the back end a different team. Donald feels the biggest difference between the first two games is his team’s health, and he hopes that can revert back to how it was for the first game.
“Game 1 we were totally healthy and everything was good,” Donald said. “Game 2 we weren’t very healthy. Playing on their field was big. They’re very good on their home field. The third game is a neutral site, so a neutral feeling.”
MPH is led by Nick, Sam and Andy Lurvey. Nick Lurvey has 20 goals and eight assists on the season, Sam Lurvey has contributed 11 goals and seven helpers and Andy Lurvey has eight goals and five assists. Both Owen Hay and Liam Allen have seen decent time in goal this season and have saves 84% and 89.4% of the shots they’ve faces, respectively.
Tully is led by the two-headed monster up top of Ryan Rauber and Shay. Rauber has 20 goals and nine assists, Shay has 11 goals and five assists in limited time this year and Bastedo has followed them up with eight goals and four assists. Danny Byrne and Andy Polak also head a strong back line in front of Breitzka.
Tully knows finishing off opportunities will be what wins or loses it the game. Rauber feels they can do that and move to a second straight sectional final.
“The few times we played MPH we got a lot of chances, we just couldn’t finish on that day,” Rauber said. “I do think we can get a lot of chances against their defense and it’ll go pretty well.”
“We can’t let them play the ball long,” Rauber added. “We know their center back likes to just boot the ball 50 yards. We’re on the smaller side on defense, so if we put pressure on the ball I think they’ll crumble.”
No. 1 Bishop Ludden and No. 4 Fabius-Pompey play in the other semifinal at 7:30 p.m. today at V-V-S High School. The final will be at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday at V-V-S.
