When the Westhill boys soccer team put up a strong effort against unbeaten Skaneateles in a 4-3 defeat on Sept. 14, it left that match believing that, perhaps, it could catch up to them at some later point.

But that didn’t happen when the two sides met again last Tuesday night in Skaneateles. Instead, the Warriors fell victim to a first-half spurt that the Lakers put together that led to a 5-1 defeat.

Since that first meeting, Skaneateles had risen to the top spot in the state Class B rankings. More importantly, it had welcomed back top defender Tim Lewis (who missed the first Westhill game) from a leg injury.

Lewis, along with his mates in the Lakers’ back line, bottled up Westhill every time it tried to attack in the early going, when the outcome was still in doubt.

Everything broke open late in the first half. Skaneateles, up 1-0 on Spencer Parker’s goal in the 19th minute, would string together three goals in a span of 3:25.

Alex Brownlee launched the run, poking home a rebound of Parker’s free kick. Then A.J. Richichi converted a long shot, and defender Mike Richards capped the run with a booming 35-yard free kick that bent into the top of the net.

The second half gave Pat Scutari a chance to play in goal, and he made six saves (Ryan Boyle had 10 saves in his stint), some of them with a high degree of difficulty. Westhill would also get on the board when Sean Sobotka scored with 8:52 left – though Kevin Rice answered with his own goal less than two minutes later.

The Warriors would recover on Thursday, beating Solvay 5-2. Staying on the attack, Westhill worked its way to a 3-1 halftime advantage, then kept adding to its total.

Barak BenYehuda found the net twice, with Sobotka putting up a goal and assist. Connor Powell and Pat Schoenborn also scored, while Pat Wickersham and Kyle Hunt earned assists. Westhill’s boys gets games against Jordan-Elbridge and Homer this week.