The Chittenango girls soccer team’s stay in the Section III Class A playoffs proved a short one.
Given the no. 11 seed, the Bears had to visit no. 6 seed New Hartford in Tuesday night’s opening round, and could not get on the board in a 3-0 loss to the Spartans.
Strong in the opening minutes, Chittenango got two close-up chances, but after New Hartford stopped the second opportunity, it quickly countered and forced a corner kick, where Raeonna Garcy, taking a cross from Hannah Rayhill, beat Katy Myka for a 1-0 Spartan edge.
For the rest of the half, Myka and the Bears’ defense made sure it stayed a one-goal margin, as the Chittenango keeper stopped Meral Evke and Micaela Honsinger point-blank.
Yet the Bears were constantly stymied when it tried to attack, both in the first half and early in the second half, as New Hartford’s defenders zeroed in on Lauren Billington, forcing her into long, low-percentage shots.
Constantly, the Spartans tried to add to its lead, and finally did so in the 62nd minute as Nora Buffington, off a feed from Goracy, found the far post to make it 2-0. After a pair of shots went off the post, New Hartford clinched it with four minutes left on Buffington’s second goal.
Chittenango finished its season with a 5-9-3 mark, but graduates just one senior, Sarah Pierce, and the return of everyone else in 2014 ought to lead to major improvement for the Bears.
