Heading into October, area high school girls soccer teams had already gone through a full month’s worth of tests, but knew the biggest games still lay ahead.
One quirk was that Marcellus still sat ahead of Westhill in the state Class B rankings – the Mustangs no. 9, the Warriors no. 15 – even though Westhill won their lone head-to-head meeting in September in overtime.
Marcellus met up with a local rival last Tuesday and worked past Solvay 4-0, getting three of those goals in the first half to establish immediate control.
Katie MacLachlan, Mei LaMarre, Sarah Hutchings and Lily Locastro earned those goals, with Hutchings and MacLachlan each earning an assist. Solvay goalies Haley Muehl and Nancy Gonzales combined for 14 saves.
On a wet Thursday night, a pair of first-half goals helped Marcellus blank Cicero-North Syracuse 2-0.
Less than seven minutes into the game, MacLachlan’s corner kick was passed to Hannah Durand, whose great pass set up LaMarre for a go-ahead goal. Then Sara Mielnicki, with a superb spin move, flashed open and put in the second goal later in the half.
C-NS had all kinds of chances to get on the board, but the Mustangs’ defense turned them all back, Ellie Shaw stopping all 10 Northstars shots she faced.
This made Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to state Class B no. 1-ranked Clinton a bit easier to take. The Warriors had Gwen Williams and Maddie Luke earn goals, overcoming a valiant effort by Marcellus goalie Ellie Shaw, who made 16 saves.
Back on Monday night, Westhill had handled Hannibal 5-0 in its only game of the week. It was 4-0 by halftime as Erica Gangemi, Cassie Dorfman, Olivia Bolesh, Ciarra Rudnick and Stephanie Falcone each earned goals, with Lauren Holstein and Brooke Zollo gaining assists.
West Genesee proved again that it was the only team that was close to Baldwinsville and Fayetteville-Manlius among the Class AA sides when it used a big second half to put away Liverpool 6-1 last Wednesday night in Camillus.
It was only 1-0 at halftime before the Wildcats tore up the Warriors’ defense late. Marlee Pontello, with two goals, led a well-balanced attack as Emma Nelson got one goal and assist.
Goals also went to Sarah Snyder, Shannon Foster and Eva Poissant, while Katrina Tessier and Chrissy Van Allen picked up assists.
Then WG faced Skaneateles Friday night, and the Wildcats pulled out a 1-0 decision in overtime, the game not decided until Sarah Petrus, in the second OT, put in an unassisted goal to help her team improve to 8-4-1 overall.
Entering the week, Skaneateles was coming off a 7-0 defeat to Clinton on Sept. 28, but two nights later the Lakers went to Jordan-Elbridge and routed the Eagles 8-0.
Though it took nearly 17 minutes for Skaneateles to get on the board, once it did plenty more followed, with the Lakers up 4-0 by halftime and then doubling that margin.
Tatum Pas’cal and Maeve McNeil both finished with a pair of goals. Grace Dower, Tess Peterson, Ava Logan and Grace Bailey also found the net as Skaneateles took 22 shots to J-E’s two.
As a follow-up on Thursday night, Skaneateles blanked Homer 2-0. One goal in each half proved enough as Lily Miller scored for the Lakers and its defense held the Trojans to just three shots.
Solvay played on Friday and lost, 3-0, to Altmar-Parish-Williamstown, and then had to meet Skaneateles on Saturday afternoon, a game where the Lakers handled the Bearcats 8-0.
Pascal put a hat trick on Solvay, her three goals part of a complete effort where McNeil and Maddy Ramsgard both found the net twice and Miller also got a goal.
That same Saturday, J-E trailed Manlius-Pebble Hill 1-0 at halftime, scored three times in the second half and still lost 5-3 to the Trojans, who matched the Eagles’ production late as Mollie Yard converted twice and Kyra White had the other goal.
Bishop Ludden surrendered a torrent of goals to MPH last Tuesday and still emerged with a 4-4 draw. All of the Trojans’ tallies came in the first half, but Ludden stayed close, trailing 4-3 at the break, and notched the only goal of the second half to pull even.
From there, neither side could convert the rest of the way as Brigid Lawless earned two of Ludden’s four goals. The others went to Annie Gaughan and Deirdre Kivlehan as, in the net, Sarah Boyea made 17 saves.
A day later, Ludden was shut out, 3-0, by Onondaga, the Gaelic Knights unable to get the ball out of its own end for much of the game, though Boyea was able to stop 16 of the Tigers’ 19 shots. J-E took a 6-0 defeat to Christian Brothers Academy on Thursday night.
