By PAUL GOTHAM
IRONDEQUOIT, N.Y. — Josh Baraka found the back of the net three times, and No. 4 Bishop Kearney defeated No. 5 Wayland-Cohocton, 3-1 in Section V Class B Boys’ Soccer action on Saturday.
Baraka snapped a one-all tie in the 59th minute when he led a counter attack and one-timed a cross from teammate Tommy Triassi.
“I found Tommy in space and it was 3v2 (three players against two) there,” the senior midfielder said. “He led me to the back post, and I was there. All I needed was a tap-in.”
The play started at the opposite end when Kearney keeper Payton Ostrowski stopped Wayland-Cohocton’s Isaac Mehlenbacher in the open field.
Jaiden Insixiengmay cleared the ball to Baraka who received and turned in the defensive third. He made a 30-yard rush before playing a diagonal ball to Triassi running the right flank. Triassi used one touch to send the ball into the goal mouth for Baraka who kept running with the play.
“They were attacking, and Jaiden cleared it,” Baraka said. “When I got into the open, I knew we had a chance. I had to score there.”
Kearney needed less than five minutes and one corner kick to start the game’s scoring. Patrick Triassi served a cross from the right flag that Baraka redirected in the air with his head.
“We went out and knew we had to give it our all. We didn’t want this to be the last game of the season. We want to have more practices because this is our senior year.”
The win was the fourth straight for the Kings (13-4-1), who won the Class B2 title in 2022.
“We have high expectations because of last year. We want to do it again. BK (soccer) has never done it back-to-back. We want to be the first team to do that.”
Kearney will play either top-seeded Mynderse or No. 8 Letchworth/Warsaw in the semifinals.
Mehlenbacher scored the lone Wayland-Cohocton (9-7-2) goal in the match’s ninth minute.
Mehlenbacher had a chance to make it a one-goal deficit at 3-2 late in the game, but Ostrowski came off his line to smother the attempt.
Ostrowski made four saves in the game.
Wayland-Cohocton’s Matt Clark stopped seven shots.
Leave a Reply