Should the West Genesee girls soccer team do something special in the upcoming Section III Class AA playoffs, it may look to last Wednesday’s 5-4 win over Fayetteville-Manlius as a landmark moment in its rise to the top.
Even on its home turf in Camillus, the first half proved disastrous. Constant defensive lapses helped the Hornets leap ahead of the Wildcats 4-1, led mostly by sophomore Alexis Muraco, who poured in two goals and one assist.
Despite all this, WG regrouped at halftime and, the rest of the way, waged an all-out attack on F-M’s vulnerable defense, putting in four unanswered goals to catch and pass the Hornets.
Melissa Fumano, scoring twice, led the big comeback, but had lots of help. Becky Brien finished with one goal and one assist, while Erica Geremia and Mia DiBello also converted. After her early struggles, Andrea Francisco finished with five saves, and WG’s defense did a superb job in the game’s latter stages.
Two nights later, WG beat the combined Syracuse city squad 6-1. Not needing any kind of comeback, the Wildcats saw Geremia post a three-goal hat trick, with Fumano, Kara Datellas and Emily Barrierr also scoring. Carlee Kingston added a pair of assists.
To begin its push through the regular-season home stretch, West Genesee’s boys team hosted Henninger last Tuesday night and was quite impressive in a 5-0 shutout of the Black Knights.
Henninger had played sides like Fayetteville-Manlius and Cicero-North Syracuse closer in 2-0 games the week before. But WG reached that total long before halftime, leading 3-0 at the break and adding to that margin later.
As so many times before, Stefanos Stamoulacatos and Jake Sutherland led the way, pouring in two goals apiece. Stamoulacatos added an assist as Sam Dudevski had the other goal. Ryan Ivers, Kyle Burke and Kevin Apenteng earned assists.
WG’s boys (8-4-1) will have a busy homestretch, taking on Central Square, Liverpool and Rome Free Academy in a five-day span, while the girls Wildcats, with a 12-2 mark, meet Auburn and Oswego.
