If the thought of an undefeated run through the fall ever crossed the minds of the Bishop Ludden boys soccer team, at least the possibility was removed before the stakes turned higher.
At the start of the penultimate week of the regular season, the Gaelic Knights wee 10-0-1 and sitting at no. 5 in the state Class C rankings. And none of this mattered to Faith Heritage, who handed Ludden its first defeat of the season last Tuesday afternoon in a 2-0 decision.
These sides had played before, on Sept. 12 at the CNY Family Sports Centre, and Ludden pulled that one out 1-0. Here, the Gaelic Knights continued a recent trend of quiet starts, and finally paid for it when the Saints grabbed a 1-0 lead by halftime.
Try as it could, Ludden couldn’t answer, held to four shots, all stopped by Faith Heritage goalie David Buff. Meanwhile, Peter Lockwood had five saves, but goals by the Saints’ Joe Lamson and Ezekiel Jackson made the difference
Two days following the loss to Faith Heritage, the Gaelic Knights were back on the field, handling Cato-Meridian 5-1 in a game where Scutari, in particular, broke out, notching three goals for a hat trick and adding an assist.
Scutari helped Ludden pull away after it already owned a 3-1 halftime advantage. Eric Emmons had one goal and one assist, with Mack McCurn contributing a goal as Justin Eisenhauer, Mack Mahar and Cam Kaminski earned one assist apiece.
On Saturday night, Ludden went north to face Watertown IHC and took another blemish with a 1-0 defeat to the Cavaliers. Chris Kiser’s first-half goal, assisted by Jake Bombard, held up the rest of the way as each of the Gaelic Knights’ six shots got scooped up by IHC goalie Will Magovney. Lockwood had four saves.
Even with the losses to Faith Heritage and IHC, Ludden still was 11-2-1 going into Tuesday’s game at Tully, with the regular season ending Friday as the Gaelic Knights visit Bishop Grimes. Ludden beat Tully 3-2 and Grimes 1-0 at home in September.
For West Genesee, the season-long theme of strong efforts not rewarded on the scoreboard continued last Tuesday night against visiting Baldwinsville, with the Wildcats staying close most of the night, but still falling to the Bees 3-0.
B’ville, at 10-1-1 and no. 14 in the latest state Class AA rankings, had not blown out WG in their first regular-season meeting Sept. 12, and that game, though a 2-0 defeat, encouraged the Wildcats, who stayed within range and only trailed 1-0 at halftime of the rematch.
Gradually, the Bees wore down WG’s defenses and saw its goalie, D.J. Moore, turn back all of the Wildcats’ shots. Evan Smith, Stan Jensen and Brandon Mimas got credit for B’ville’s goals to overcome 11 total saves from David Wenner and Peter Bowman.
Back on the road Thursday night, WG visited Liverpool, who was going through its own struggles and had just drawn Cicero-North Syracuse 0-0. Having lost to the Warriors 3-1 earlier this season, the Wildcats looked for a turnaround, but did not get it in a 2-0 defeat.
Thanks to the combined 10 saves from Wenner and Bowman, WG kept the game 0-0 until the second half, when Liverpool’s Marques Wright took over, scoring one goal and assisting on the other, by Ben Root. Ian Zingaro assisted on Wright’s tally as the Wildcats were held to two shots all night.
And the slump continued Saturday, when WG dropped a 1-0 decision to Watertown. The Wildcats took more shots – seven, to Watertown’s five – but got nothing past goalie Caleb Kolb, so the Cyclones’ lone goal, scored by Jake Cavellier in the first half off a feed from Chris Long, held up.
The Wildcats have two games left this week, going to Henninger Tuesday before hosting Corcoran on Thursday night.