No matter how difficult it got, the Marcellus girls soccer team remained right behind Westhill in the OHSL Liberty division, twice pulling out close victories over determined opponents.
In last Monday’s return match with Skaneateles, the Mustangs got into another pitched battle with the rival Lakers, but still pulled out a 1-0 victory.
Just by the numbers, it lined up to be a rout, since Marcellus was 8-1 and Skaneateles was 2-7. And the first meeting on Sept. 12 in Skaneateles had gone 7-0 in the Mustangs’ favor.
But the Lakers proved much tougher in the rematch. Mary Buck made seven first-half saves, and the only time Marcellus converted, in the 31st minute, Jackie Epp’s goal included a collision that knocked Buck out of the game.
Rachel Hurley replaced Buck, and proved just as good, finishing with nine saves as she finished out the game. However, Shannon Donahue, Faith Seeley, McChesney Mastro and the rest of the Marcellus defense did a solid job of containment, making sure that goalie Margaret Choroser only had to make six saves.
When Marcellus faced Homer on Thursday night, a new face to the lineup ended up rescuing the game as the Mustangs squeaked past the Trojans 2-1.
Here, Homer went out in front 1-0 just 3:33 into the game, Jessica Walter’s deft pass setting up Kim Dieroff’s shot into the net. Marcellus tied it in the 31st minute as Ellie Ryan converted off a solo run from the left side.
It remained 1-1 until midway through the second half. Molly MacLachlan took a hard shot from the right side that slipped out of the grasp of Trojans goalie Jessica Mitchell (who made 12 saves on the night), and Jordin Wentworth, called up from the JV ranks just a couple of weeks ago, put in the rebound for what proved to be the winning goal.
Meanwhile, the Marcellus boys soccer team, once 0-5, continued its mid-season revival, riding Nate Waite’s latest explosive individual effort to a 4-1 victory over Skaneateles at Hyatt Stadium.
Exactly the opposite had taken place Sept. 13 in Marcellus, and that 4-1 defeat appeared to back up the impression that the Mustangs were facing real struggles in 2011.
Less than a month later, all that changed. Waite’s pair of goals negated a tally from the Lakers’ Sam Goodell, and Marcellus led 2-1 at halftime.
Not content with that, Waite put the game away with two more tallies in the second half, giving him four for the night. Sean Dunn, Eric Dorio and Matt Tice finished with one assist apiece, and Eric Degget stopped eight of the nine shots he faced.
And the Mustangs struck again Thursday, beating Homer 4-2 to climb to earn its fifth straight win and climb to the .500 mark at 5-5.
Like the girls game between the two sides, it was tied, 1-1, at halftime, but Marcellus broke through in the late going. Waite led the way again, as he put up two goals and one assist. Eric Dorio and Keenan Vaughn each had one goal and one assist.
