Each of West Genesee’s soccer teams found themselves taking the field for the first time during Labor Day weekend – and both of them would split.
For the boys Wildcats, trying to shake off years of struggles, the season kicked off with an appearance at the Canandaigua Tournament, where it finished third.
In Friday’s opening round, WG lost to Rochester McQuaid by a score of 4-1. Stefanos Stamoulacatos had his team’s only goal, in the second half, as Bojan Topalovic earned the assist.
Forced into Saturday’s consolation game against Newark, the Wildcats turned it around and won by that same 4-1 margin to get the third-place trophy.
Only ahead 1-0 at the half, WG got away in the late going as Stamoulacatos found the net twice to give him three goals for the weekend. Topalovic earned one goal and one assist as Jake Sutherland got the other goal and Kyle Burke got an assist, too. Dylan Condon recorded four saves.
Meanwhile, the WG girls soccer team opened at the Oswego Tournament and had the exact same result, turning a Friday defeat around.
The Wildcats ran into Rochester Mercy in the first round and was close for a while before taking a 7-1 loss. Kara Datellas scored off a feed from Erica Geremia in the first half, and only trailed 2-1 at the break before Mercy rattled off five straight goals in the second half.
WG then faced Oswego in the consolation game and got into the win column with a 2-0 shutout, the same margin by which the Buccaneers lost to Fulton in the first round.
Both goals came in the first half, as Paige Copeland and Melissa Fumano converted to put the Wildcats in front. Becky Brien and Nicole Bello earned the assists.
On Wednesday, each of WG’s teams take on Utica Proctor.
