Still situated at no. 2 in the state Class A rankings, the Jamesville-DeWitt girls soccer team would have a pair of interesting tests while defending its undefeated mark as the calendar turned from September to October.

The Red Rams’ visit to Chittenango last Tuesday night involved both a skilled, spirited opponent and lots of rain, but J-D, led by Alex Catanzarite and eighth-grade goalie Katie Cappelletti, endured all of the challenges to edge past the Bears 3-2.

Three days earlier, Chittenango got run over by unranked CBA in a 5-0 loss. Angry at what happened there, the Bears put even more into J-D, and found out that its wide-open, attacking style was something that bothered the Rams in a way others could not do.

They were tied, 1-1, at halftime, enduring the heavy precipitation as Chittenango’sLauren Billington converted once in the first half, and did so again in the second half, both times her goals assisted by Kayla Bain.

The Bears also matched J-D in the amount of opportunities, as Cappelletti had to make as many saves (seven) as Bears counterpart Katy Myka. Still, J-D pulled through thanks to Catanzarite’s pair of goals and a tally from Allie Balotin, with assists credited to Paige Sherling and Alex Epifani.

Marcellus, no. 10 in the state Class B rankings and undefeated at 6-0-3, would visit J-D two days later, and again it proved a challenge, but here the Rams’ defense took charge, not letting the Mustangs do much and earning a 2-0 shutout.

All that the potent Mustangs could manage was four shots that J-D’s eighth-grade goalie, Katie Cappelletti, stopped. Meanwhile, the Rams, patient in its attack, made do with one goal in each half, both of them scored by Catanzarite as Alex Fontana and Anastasia Parks picked up the assists.

Bishop Grimes, who rose to no. 4 in the latest state Class C rankings, hosted Fabius-Pompey last Monday afternoon, and for the second time this season their match-up turned into a tense affair, decided in the latter stages as the Cobras fought past the Falcons 2-1.

That it was so close wasn’t surprising, since Grimes had to pull out a 1-0 win at F-P on Sept. 17. Just 11 days later, in East Syracuse, the Falcons took a 1-0 lead in the first half thanks to Hailey Niles’ unassisted goal.

But Kennedy Yearby answered in the 35th minute, and it was 1-1 going into the second half. Eventually, all of the pressure Grimes put on Falcons goalie Rachel Scolisi (who made 19 saves) paid off as Yearby netted the go-ahead goal midway through the second half, her 18th of the season. Jordan Sloan earned an assist as Marissa Curtis stopped six of the seven shots she faced.

Tuesday’s game with McGraw was rained out, but the Cobras did meet Onondaga on Thursday night and beat the Tigers 5-1, doing most of the damage in the first half, where it seized a 4-1 lead. Yearby scored twice, adding an assist, with Sloan and Sidney Dobbins each getting one goal and one assist, and Bella Naylor also finding the net.

In its only action last week Manlius-Pebble Hill, carrying a 7-1 record, was cruising toward a victory at 3-5-1 Cato-Meridian last Tuesday when everything fell apart down the stretch and the Trojans lost, 4-3, to the Blue Devils.

Thanks to Rachel Comfort, who scored one goal and assisted on tallies from Maja Cannavo and Jordan Dunaway-Barlow, MPH had a 3-0 lead with less than 20 minutes left. Yet that was enough time for Cato’s Karleigh Phelps to score twice and teammate Miranda Myhill-LaForce to add a goal, creating a 3-3 tie and taking it to overtime, where in the second extra period Myhill-Laforce converted again off a feed from Olivia Ford.

East Syracuse Minoa didn’t have the same trauma as MPH did, but lost, 4-1, to Homer because the Trojans blitzed them for four first-half goals, led by Olivia Porter, who scored twice and added an assist. Though Franchesca Polcaro netted a second-half goal, assisted by Marissa Greiner, the Spartans could not recover.

The action this week for Grimes included rematches with Bishop Ludden (whom it beat 2-0 on Sept. 22) and with state-ranked Tully (whom it beat 2-1 on Sept. 8), while MPH got a week to recover from the shock of the Cato comeback before meeting Onondaga and Tyburn Academy this week.