Nothing else, even the local opposition, had stood in the way of the Marcellus and Westhill girls soccer teams through the month of September, but the Warriors went through a pair of exciting contests during last week’s action.
First, Westhill had to go through a tough fight with Skaneateles last Tuesday night, settling for a 0-0 draw with the Lakers.
Both sides had plenty of chances to get on the board, in both the 80 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime. Neither would succeed, though.
Westhill’s defense, led by Paige Rogers, Shelby Stack, Gretchen Krzykowski and Nicole Easterly, broke up Skaneateles attacks, and goalie Sam Peebles had eight saves. The Lakers faced more heat, but Mary Buck turned away each of the Warriors’ 11 shots.
Then the Warriors found itself in worse shape Thursday night, at Cazenovia, where it trailed by a couple of goals at halftime but, led by the Lippert sisters, it rallied past those other Lakers 3-2.
Through 40 minutes, Westhill trailed 2-0, as Cazenovia used goals by Kristie Klein and Kelsi Fredericks to move in front, and nothing the Warriors tried against Laker goalie Jamie Enders would work.
But in the second half, it all changed. Lindsey Lippert proved unstoppable, twice beating Enders for goals and assisting on Kelly Lippert’s tally. Peebles, with her five saves, and Westhill’s defense did the rest, containing Klein, the OHSL’s leading scorer, the rest of the way.
Meanwhile, Marcellus was impressive in last Monday’s visit to Bishop Ludden, keeping the ball away from the Gaelic Knights and spotlighting a new star in the course of a 3-0 victory.
Freshman Madison Belvito had already earned a spot in the Marcellus starting lineup, but her production as modest in the season’s opening weeks as she deferred to her more seasoned teammates.
But when Ludden tried to stop the veterans, Belvito charged past them, twice scoring and assisting on a goal by Jackie Epp. Brielle Filtch assisted on one of Belvito’s tallies.
What followed was Wednesday’s 12-0 win over Jordan-Elbridge, a romp that featured a second straight hat trick from Belvito, though it was Ellie Ryan that was most productive with two goals and three assists.
Seven other players – Filtch, Shannon Donahue, Emma Blystone, Nellie Ramsden, Abby Fallon, Molly MacLachlan and Megan Bankey – also scored, with Marcellus getting nine goals in the second half alone. Lexy Bird contributed an assist. J-E goalie Kali Kimak finished with 12 saves.
Ludden did have a fair amount of opportunities, yet every one of them got turned away as Margaret Choroser, preserving the shutout, made 11 saves, two more than Gaelic Knights counterpart Gemma O’Kane.
Three nights later, Ludden got back in the win column, outscoring Hannibal 5-3. After grabbing a 2-0 first-half edge, the Gaelic Knights struggled on the defensive end in the second half, but made up for it by answering each of the Warriors’ surges.
Shelby Hunter had a part in each of Ludden’s scoring plays, scoring twice and gaining three assists. Mersadiz Hayes gained two goals off of Hunter’s feeds. Kelly Granteed earned the other goal. In a non-league game on Friday, Ludden lost 4-2 to Bishop Grimes, who remained undefeated.
Solvay fought back to the .500 mark in last Tuesday’s 2-0 shutout of Chittenango. The Bearcats solved the Bears as Chelsie Delperuto got a goal, with Brianna Wiesszczynski adding an assist. Goalie Julie Gardner was superb, stopping all 12 shots she faced as her counterpart, Sierra Shafer, made 14 saves.
Then the Bearcats tore it up in Thursday’s 10-0 destruction of Phoenix, leading 8-0 by halftime thanks to hat tricks from Delperuto and Wiessczynski, who each had three goals and one assist.
Abby Guinta scored twice, adding an assist as Nicole Antonacci managed a goal and two assists. Loren Lucio had one goal and one assist, with Kylie Avery and Danielle Lombardo also earning assists.
