Two more wins allowed the Cazenovia girls soccer team to improve to 7-3 and stay right behind Westhill and Marcellus in the OHSL Liberty division.
Poor defense, especially in the game’s late stages, did not stop the Lakers last Monday as it sailed to a 9-4 victory over Hannibal.
Taking 28 shots overall, Cazenovia worked its way to a 4-1 halftime lead, and every time Hannibal did convert (mostly Taylor Sorrell, who had a three-goal hat trick), the Lakers would answer.
Colleen Dougherty and Clare Costello, with two goals apiece, led a deep Cazenovia attack. Kristi Kleine and Abbie McEntee each had a goal and two assists, with Kayla Dorrance and Audrey Burbidge both getting one goal and one assist.
Kaitlyn Gerber earned the other goal, with Kelsi Fredericks and Caroline Franz getting credit for assists, too.
That defense tightened up, considerably, in Wednesday’s game at Skaneateles, and Cazenovia won the battle of Laker teams 4-1 to complete a regular-season sweep.
It was close in the early going, Cazenovia only leading 1-0 at the break, but its attack broke loose in the second half as Kleine took over on the offensive side, burning Skaneateles for a three-goal hat trick.
Clare Costello had the other goal as Fredericks, Dougherty, Caroline Franz and Kathryn Costello each finished with one assist. Jamie Enders recorded five saves.
Aside from hosting Solvay and Jordan-Elbridge next week at the Sean Goggin Sports Complex, the Lakers also, on Thursday, make up the weather-postponed Sept. 27 meeting with Westhill, one of two games against the state Class B no. 3-ranked Warriors in the last two weeks of the regular season.
When, on Friday, the Cazenovia boys soccer side took its shot at a regular-season sweep against Skaneateles (it won the first meeting 2-0 on Sept. 15) at the Sean Goggin Sports Complex, it also succeeded, and also won by a 4-1 margin.
Even though it took far fewer shots than Skaneateles, Cazenovia still grabbed a 3-0 halftime lead and never looked back. Conor Race, Connor Polsin, Matt Donovan and Tyler Modzeleski each had one goal, with James Duffy adding an assist. Chris Matteson was sensational in the net, too, earning 16 saves.
Before that, Cazenovia (6-3-1) played Fabius-Pompey to a 0-0 draw on Wednesday afternoon. Each side had copious opportunities in the 80 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime, but neither would get on the board. Matteson finished with 11 saves.
