As they neared the midway point of their respective regular seasons, girls soccer teams at Cazenovia and Chittenango continued to find a fair amount of success, making their head-to-head match on Wednesday an important mid-season barometer for both sides.
At home last Tuesday to face Mexico, the Lakers struck early to put away the Tigers 2-0, as Grace Rajkowski, off a feed from Maddy Gavitt, netted a goal less than nine minutes into the game.
Late in the first half, Cazenovia doubled the margin as Gavitt netted her 18th goal of the season, assisted by Akberet Tella. From there, the Lakers were quiet, but its defense stifled Mexico as goalie Tessa Hansknecht recorded 10 saves.
Looking for another win on Friday against Solvay, Cazenovia had to drag itself to overtime before pulling out a 3-1 victory over the Bearcats.
Amid wind-swept conditions, Julia Reff converted late in the first half, giving the Lakers a 1-0 edge, but Solvay got even with a goal from Lanaya Willis, assisted by Dee Dee McGriff.
They stayed 1-1 through the rest of regulation, but three minutes into the first of the two mandatory 10-minute OT periods Gavitt, contained most of the game, broke free and put in the go-ahead goal.
Emily Reff added a second goal with 2:30 left in the second OT to thwart any possible Bearcats comeback. Gavitt assisted on one of the Lakers’ goals and Taylor Tillison earned an assist, too.
Chittenango, fresh off stunning defending state Class B co-champion Westhill on Sept. 14, did not have a letdown in last Tuesday’s visit to Phoenix as it shut out the Firebirds 4-0.
Taking 20 shots overall, the Bears converted twice in each half, with Madison Wagner picking up two of those goals. Ally Shoemaker and Sarah Martin also found the net, with assists going to Emily Moon and Maryanna Garcia.
Ava Dardaris stopped all 10 Phoenix shots she faced as Chittenango improved to 6-2 overall and were set on Monday to challenge state Class B no. 2-ranked Marcellus before its game with Cazenovia and a Friday trip to Hannibal.
The Lakers, at 6-3 overall but 4-0 against OHSL Liberty National division foes, have its own match with Phoenix Monday and meets Holland Patent Friday after it faces the Bears.
