A whole lot has changed for the Westhill girls soccer team since it brought home a share of the state Class B championship last November.
Twelve seniors, including Megan O’Reilly, Morgan Elmer, Bella Lavigne, Mackenzie Powers, Hannah Dorfman, Katelyn Karleski, Sam VanBuren and Alyssa Holstein, graduated, but that wasn’t all.
Lisa Eipp, Westhill’s head coach, left to take the position at Onondaga High School, so the school hired Ben Cassalia to replace her, a difficult task even without all the roster turnover.
What challenges the Warriors face proved evident in its first game of 2018, a 2-1 defeat to West Genesee.
The Wildcats already had an Aug. 28 win over Utica Proctor in the books and needed just 12 minutes to go in front of Westhill thanks to a goal by Shannon Foster.
When Jackie Vigliotti converted a penalty kick early in the second half, WG led 2-0. Ciarra Rudnick converted to cut the Warriors’ deficit in half, but it could not get any more past Wildcats goalie Liz Croft, who had seven saves. Warriors goalie Lauren Bendall had eight saves.
Another big test for WG appeared to come Saturday when it hosted Christian Brothers Academy, but the Wildcats handled this one, too, pulling away to blank the Brothers 4-0.
Three of those tallies came in the first half, WG taking charge behind two goals from Mia Sveen as Foster picked up one goal and one assist. Sammie Snyder scored, too, while Vigliotti and Sarah Petrus had one assist apiece.
Westhill didn’t recover right away as, on Saturday it lost, 1-0, to Holland Patent, with Samantha Rachon’s goal enough for the Golden Knights to prevail as Bendall made 14 saves, but HP’s Hayden Roberts stopped all nine shots she faced.
Before this, WG routed Utica Proctor 8-0. In the first half alone, the Wildcats found the net seven times, led by Chrissy Van Allen, who had a part in half the scoring plays as she got two goals and two assists.
Sveen also scored twice, contributing an assist as Petrus had one goal and one assist. Vigliotti, Emma Nelson and Elli McCarthy each had one goal as Anna Cahalan, Shannon Foster and Emma Goodelle picked up assists.
That same day, Solvay opened with a shutout of its own, blanking Hannibal 5-0 as it took nearly 30 shots overall and converted enough for a comfortable victory.
Taylor Clisson notched two goals, with Hannah Martineau getting one goal and one assist. Kaya Watts added a goal and Carly Devereaux gained an assist.
