A pair of wins late in the week helped the Chittenango girls soccer team secure a spot in the Section III Class A playoffs.
The clincher came on Saturday, during a 4-0 shutout of Onondaga, where the Bears ignored the howling wind and rain and put together a steady, balanced effort.
Kaitlin Antelmi, with one goal and one assist, and Lauren Billington, with a pair of assists, led the way. Courtney Dyer, Sara Pierce and Kelsey Buse scored, too, with Katie Milliman contributing an assist.
Two days earlier, Chittenango rallied from behind to beat East Syracuse-Minoa 2-1. The Bears were down, 1-0, at the half due to Amanda Wall’s goal for ESM.
But Sierra Shafer, with eight saves, stopped everything else, and in the second half Antelmi brought the Bears back, scoring once and assisting on Dyer’s goal. Pierce earned the other assist.
All this followed last Tuesday night’s 4-2 overtime loss to Cortland. The Bears struggled early on the defensive side, trailing the Purple Tigers 2-1 at halftime. But Chittenango tightened up its resistance during the second half and, with a single goal, pulled even at 2-2.
So it remained through one 10-minute overtime period. But in the second OT, Cortland, led by Erika Fabrezak (two goals, one assist), twice found the net to pull it out.
In defeat, Buse and Billington put in the Bears’ goals, while Pierce and Antelmi earned the assists. Shafer finished with six saves.
Continuing its own rough campaign, Chittenango’s boys team lost on Tuesday to Fowler 8-0, as the Falcons overwhelmed the Bears with six first-half goals. Colin Vangordan made 12 saves, but Fowler had seven different players score as Jean-Paul Mboyo (two goals, one assist) led the way.
Two days later, hosting East Syracuse-Minoa, the Bears lost 5-0 to the Spartans. Chittenango had another rough start, trailing 4-0 by the break despite Vangordan’s eventual total of 12 saves. Senid Hakic, with two goals, led ESM’s balanced effort.
At home Saturday to face Mexico, Chittenango finally broke the skid, beating the Tigers 3-2 in overtime. Connor McGrath and Kyle Prenoveau both had one goal and one assist, while Alex Wafer had the other goal and Joe Murray contributed an assist.
This season for the Bears will conclude with matches against Jamesville-DeWitt, Cortland and Manlius-Pebble Hill. The girls Bears, at 6-7 overall, are favored in games this week with Mexico and Phoenix that precede Sunday’s announcement of the Class A sectional playoff bracket.
