One more round of league matches between the girls soccer teams of Jamesville-DeWitt, Christian Brothers Academy and East Syracuse-Minoa remained, and they started out in a somewhat surprising manner.
ESM went to Alibrandi Stadium on Thursday night with a 4-5 record, and earned one of its biggest wins of the season when it pushed past the Brothers 3-1.
All looked fine for CBA in the first half. Despite the defensive attention given to Eva Gordon and Marisa Romeo, the Brothers went ahead 1-0 on Kate Lacasse’s goal, fed by Alysa Radziewicz.
But the Spartans didn’t allow anything more, Katie Raab finishing with 10 saves, and in the second half ESM took advantage of CBA’s defensive struggles by finding the net three times.
Ashley Scalzo twice found the net, while Olivia Chopskie earned the other goal. Sarah Britton, Natalie O’Brien and Danielle Douglas each picked up one assist.
Before this, ESM reached the .500 mark in last Tuesday’s tough 1-0 victory over Cortland, a game that was scoreless throughout the first half despite heavy Purple Tigers pressure.
Somehow, Spartans goalie Kristen Raab kept Cortland from getting in front, and her 12-save effort was rewarded when, in the second half, Olivia Chopskie’s unassisted goal put her side in front.
At the same times, found itself in a pitched battle with Fulton last Tuesday night, needing a comeback in overtime to salvage a 2-2 draw with the Red Raiders.
Following a scoreless first half, the Brothers got on the board in the second half with Olivia Pitonzo’s goal, fed by Gordon. Yet Fulton’s Courtney Beckwith also found the net.
So it was 1-1 going into the first of two 10-minute overtime periods, where Jocelyn Ravesi scored to put the Red Raiders ahead 2-1, only to have Romeo counter with a tying goal, fed by Pitonzo.
And there it would stay, despite CBA taking twice as many shots as Fulton, only to see Red Raiders goalie Allyson Bricker earn 16 saves, with Lindsey Evans finishing with eight saves.
ESM did not have a letdown after the CBA win, doing enough in the first half of Friday’s non-league game against Solvay to beat the Bearcats 2-1.
Twice in the first 40 minutes, Scalzo got open and, taking feeds from Kaitlyn Shaughnessy, put it past Solvay goalie Julie Gardner. Though Gardner stopped everything else and made 11 saves, the Spartans clung to that margin the rest of the way, moving above .500 (6-5) in the process.
Both of the ESM sides would face Jamesville-DeWitt on Tuesday and Homer on Thursday, with the boys also taking on Fayetteville-Manlius in a non-league contest Saturday night. CBA would get Cortland Tuesday, with the boys tackling unbeaten Fowler Thursday night.
