Joe Spires delivered some spectacular moments for the Cazenovia boys soccer team in last Tuesday night’s match against Westhill at the Sean Googin Sports Complex.
Whether it was a long-run and blazing shot that found the net in the first half, or a 60-plus-yard goal that was disallowed in the last two minutes of regulation, these features helped ease the pain of a 3-1 defeat to the Warriors.
Each of the last three years, Cazenovia has made the Section III Class B final, and each time Westhill has denied them that long-elusive sectional title, going on to win the state championship in 2018.
And even with heavy graduation losses, the Warriors remain the standard, as it demonstrated to the Lakers by controlling long stretches of the game and patiently waiting to convert its many opportunities.
Most of all, Westhill didn’t get rattled when, less than a minute after Rusden Bryant scored to give the Warriors a 1-0 edge, Spires took the ball at midfield, tore through several defenders and then fired a hard shot from the right that Westhill goalie Ian Prebish had no chance to stop.
Right before halftime, Westhill took the lead for good when Andrew Centore fired home a shot fed from the left by Bo BenYehuda. Then the margin doubled in the second half thanks to Bryant, whose header off a BenYehuda corner kick just trickled across the goal line.
With 1:25 left, Cazenovia was awarded a free kick in its own end. Spires took it and delivered a long shot that rode the wind and flew past Prebish –but a Lakers foul inside the box negated the goal.
Cazenovia had another setback in Friday’s 3-2 overtime defeat to Geneva. In conditions even windier than the Westhill game, Spires scored twice in the first half to put his team in front, but Geneva rallied in the second half and then got the OT game-winner.
Just like Cazenovia, Chittenango had blazed to a quick start this season – and it would even mirror the Lakers in defeat, too, falling to Christian Brothers Academy last Tuesday night at Alibrandi Stadium by a familiar 3-1 margin.
A sectional Class A finalist last fall, CBA jumped on the Bears in the first half, seeing Will Raines deliver a pair of goals and Bentito Vlassis score, too.
Even though Tom McIntosh scored off a feed from Anthony Roberts to put Chittenango on the board, it did not prove enough, though goalkeeper Jake Simmons did finish with 14 saves.
On Saturday, the Bears faced Vernon-Verona-Sherrill and pulled out a 1-0 decision over the Red Devils, breaking through when McIntosh scored in the second half off a feed from Mikel Pascual. VVS goalie Manuel Lavesa-Cesana made 16 saves.
Cazenovia would try and recover from its pair of defeats at home when it faced Homer on Tuesday and then welcomes Jordan-Elbridge on Friday as part of Homecoming activities. Chittenango would meet J-E on Tuesday and then travel to Marcellus on Friday night.
