Hosting its own tournament to start the 2011 season, the Chittenango boys soccer team made it to the finals, only to run into an inspired Class AA foe.
In Friday’s first round, the Bears, who went 8-7-2 a season ago before falling to Carthage in the Class A quarterfinals, met Phoenix, and unleashed plenty of offense in a 7-3 win over the Firebirds.
It was already 5-2 by halftime, and Mike Koegel was mainly responsible. Before the game was done, Koegel had put in four goals, but he had lots of support, too.
Joe Murray managed one goal and one assist, with Andrew Martin and Connor McGrath also converting. Zach McCarthy added an assist. Chittenango finished with 19 shots to Phoenix’s seven.
This led to the final Saturday against Henninger, who had edged Oneida 4-3 in the other part of the opening round.
In hot, steamy conditions, the Bears wore down, especially on defense, and lost 8-2 to the Black Knights.
Kyle Coon was under attack all game long, and made 13 saves, but Henninger had a 4-0 edge by halftime and kept converting, even though Adam Moon and John Murray would notch second-half goals. Six different players scored for Henninger as Almir Halimi and Colin Montgomery both had two goals.
As this went on, Cazenovia’s girls soccer team opened at home, against Cortland, and took a 3-1 loss to the Purple Tigers.
Following a scoreless first half, Cortland took over in the late stages as Rachel Prentice, with one goal and one assist, led the visitors. Kayla Dorrance had the Lakers’ lone tally. Jamie Enders recorded five saves.
