While every Section III Class B and OHSL Liberty division boys soccer team takes dead aim at defending champion Westhill, none seem to give them more stress than the Skaneateles Lakers.
And things were stressful again last Thursday night, when the undefeated, state Class B no. 5-ranked Warriors had to go to the wire again to put away Skaneateles and earn a 2-1 victory.
These same two teams had met Sept. 3, at Hyatt Stadium, and in that game Westhill controlled matters most of the night and then scored twice in the second half to take control, but still had to hang on late to prevail by that same 2-1 margin.
Now they were playing again, on Westhill’s turf, and this time around all the goals came in the first 40 minutes. Barak BenYehuda and Mike McKnight both scored for the Warriors, but Jack Bailey found the net for the Lakers, keeping the margin at one.
Throughout the second half, Westhill probed, but could not get anything past Skaneateles goalie Billy Patrick, who finished with seven saves. At the same time, though, the Warrior back line ably protected the lead as Chris Burrows only had to make four saves.
Marcellus would visit Solvay last Tuesday night, and while it was far from a superlative effort, the Mustangs still did enough to defeat the Bearcats 2-0.
On defense, Marcellus contained the quick Solvay lineup, holding them to just five shots, all stopped by Ian LaFever. A single goal in each half helped to overcome Joe Reale’s seven-save effort as Geoff Golick and Adam Molinari each scored for the Mustangs.
Things would not go as well for the Mustangs (7-3) on Friday night, at Cazenovia, where it lost to the Lakers by that same 2-0 margin, unable to get on the board.
Cazenovia scored once in each half, overcoming LaFever’s six saves, as Henry Mann and Peter Burr produced the goals. Marcellus managed just four shots against a stingy Laker defense.
Westhill had one of its most productive outings of the season last Monday, at Jordan-Elbridge, where it steadily got away from the Eagles en route to a 7-0 victory.
It was 4-0 by halftime, and the Warriors had five different players score. Barak BenYehuda and Mike McKnight each picked up two goals, while Jake Etoll, Brett Pugilisi and Adam French earned single goals. Etoll also had an assist. Under pressure most of the night, J-E goalie Max Bondgren finished with seven saves.
J-E would bounce back Wednesday, rallying past Phoenix 6-2. The Eagles trailed 2-1 at halftime on goals from Bryce Plante and Zach Schlachter, but ran over the Firebirds with five unanswered goals in the second half.
Numerous players contributed to the comeback, as Nick Falcone scored twice and four others – Russell Hines, Colby Falcone, Jake Melfi and Logan Schwarting – earned single tallies. Schwarting and Javier Wood also earned assists.
Solvay, afer its defeat to Marcellus, would edge Chittenango 2-1 on Saturday, going up 1-0 by halftime and exchanging goals in the latter stages. Sal Dahlin and Arsen Bagiryan had the goals, with Nazar Trut and Maid Kahrimanovic each getting one assist. Each of Joe Reale’s nine saves proved important, as Bears counterpart Jack Wandersee had eight saves.
Bishop Ludden lost last Monday to Tully in a 5-0 decision, forced into a defensive mode most of the game as Matt Hughes and Brian Lawler combined to make 14 saves. David Johnson led the victorious Black Knights, earning a three-goal hat trick.
But then the Gaelic Knights earned a big win on Saturday, knocking off Manlius-Pebble Hill 1-0 to get back to the .500 mark at 4-4. Hughes stopped all seven shots he faced, and Ludden’s defensive effort paid off when Brendan Downey, off a feed from Jon Dussing, slid one past Trojans goalie Ryley Amond for what proved to be the game-winner.
