At heights it has rarely felt in its entire program history, the Cazenovia girls soccer team knew that it had to keep playing at a top level when it wanted to stay there.
When the first state Class B rankings of the season were released early this week, the Lakers, sporting an 8-0 mark, were no. 2 in the state, trailing only Schalmont, a Section II power whose wins this year include one over Cicero-North Syracuse.
But just a day after those rankings came out, Cazenovia suffered its first blemish of the season, though it took a wild, exciting and frantic battle with state no. 9-ranked Westhill at the Sean Googin Sports Complex for that 2-1 defeat to take place.
Through a scoreless first half, the Warriors and Lakers played on fairly even terms. A rotation of Westhill defenders, led by Shelby Stack, took turns running with Cazenovia’s top scorer, Audrey Burbidge, though Burbidge had plenty of chances, pulling a wide-open shot just wide moments before halftime.
Deep into the second half, it was still 0-0. Then, in the final 10 minutes of regulation, it all went wild.
Westhill’s Meg O’Reilly began the fun when, with 9:52 left, she lofted a long pass from midfield and Jayanna Monds ran it down before dribbling around Cazenovia defenders and poking a shot past Cazenovia’s goalie, Maggie Johnson, who had run out to try and stop her.
Without Johnson, who made most of her 18 saves in the second half, the Lakers would have faltered long before the end of regulation. After a handball inside the 18-yard box with four minutes left, Tatiana Monds had a chance to put the game away with a penalty kick, but Johnson made a diving stop, and then made two more terrific saves moments later.
Fired up by those stops, Cazenovia made one more push as the clock ticked down. With exactly one minute to play in regulation, Saige Ackermann, open at the point, took a pass from Casey Crawford and rocketed a hard shot to the top of the net that Westhill goalie Ariana Henneberry had no chance to stop.
So it was on to overtime, where it was quiet for most of the 20 minutes. But with 2:54 left in the second extra period, Westhill got another breakaway and Jayanna Monds flashed open again, taking a timely pass from Dana Radin and hitting it past Johnson.
Still, it wasn’t over. The Lakers made one more last-minute charge, with a shot that glanced off a Laker player and rolled wide, allowing the Warriors to hang on, and await an Oct. 18 rematch with Cazenovia.
Hours before the Lakers battled with Westhill, Chittenango put up a real fight against five-time defending sectional champion Jamesville-DeWitt, but still lost, 3-1, to the Red Rams.
Even though it held the no. 3 state Class A ranking, J-D did not scare the Bears all that much, only grabbing a 2-1 halftime lead as Kayla Bain plowed through the Rams’ defenses to earn a goal.
But Chittenango couldn’t get many chances in the second half, and J-D doubled its margin, counting on two goals from Alex Catanzarite and a goal from Erin Brinley to overcome a solid effort in goal by Katy Myka, who made eight saves.
