Waiting until the second week of September to get underway, the West Genesee boys soccer team tested itself with three games in a five-day span. It started with the Wildcats going to Liverpool last Tuesday night, and the Warriors, who had won twice to open its season, made it three straight, claiming a 2-0 decision.
It was 0-0 until the Wildcats gave up both goals in the second half, one each to Connor Vaughn and Jeff Meyers. Ryan Mavretish, in defeat, finished with five saves, with Liverpool counterpart Tyler Lane making seven saves.
Now the Wildcats looked for a breakthrough when it ventured to Skaneateles for the annual Finger Lakes Cup, and would steal a third-place finish on Saturday afternoon when it beat the host Lakers by a 4-3 margin.
A nice, balanced attack would solve the riddle of the Skaneateles defense. Four different WG players – Drew Francisco, Steve Fucillo, Brandon Fascia and Tyler Pirro – scored the four goals, with Francisco and Fascia adding assists.
Jack Bailey led the Lakers, scoring twice and assisting on Nick Palmer’s goal, but WG held on behind Mavretish recording eight saves.
Before that, though, WG lost, 2-1, to Buffalo power Canisius in the opening round. All of the goals came in the first half, where Steve Fucillo, off a feed from Drew Francisco, put the Wildcats on the board. Mavretish made 12 saves to keep it close after the Crusaders scored twice in the early going.
Solvay made a big statement last Tuesday night, going to Tully and unleashing a potent attack that overwhelmed the Black Knights as the Bearcats prevailed by a 6-2 margin.
Tully, who had beaten two-time defending Section III Class C champion Fabius-Pompey the week before, forged a 2-2 halftime tie, only to see it get away in a big manner thanks to an all-out Solvay attack that produced four unanswered goals in the final 40 minutes.
Layth Karim and Nazar Trut led the way, each scoring twice. Ruslan Sovloskiy and Maid Kahrimanovic also found the net, with Vlad Tru and Owen Ryan each earning a pair of assists. Sovloskiy also got an assist as Joe Reale, after giving up early goals to Adrian Nash and David Johnson, stopped everything else on his way to nine saves.
Even with all that, Solvay could not find similar success in Thursday night’s game against Cazenovia, falling to the Lakers 4-0. The Bearcats were down 3-0 by halftime and could not stop Tyler Modzeleski, who notched three of Cazenovia’s goals. Reale finished with six saves.
Jordan-Elbridge defeated Phoenix 5-1 on Thursday afternoon, seeing Nick Falcone and Russell Hines each score twice and Javier Wood add a goal of his own. Colby Falcone joined Hines in the assist column as the Eagles broke a season-opening three-game skid.
Two days later, the Eagles blanked Wayland-Cohocton 2-0, and again Falcone and Hines led the way, each of them scoring a goal as Wood contributed an assist. J-E’s defense was solid, too, holding Wayland-Cohocton to just two shots for the entire game.
Idle until Friday afternoon, Bishop Ludden played Faith Heritage to a 0-0 draw. Through 80 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime, both sides had chances, but could not get the decisive goal as Gaelic Knights goalie Adam Lockwood stopped all 10 shots he faced. Saints counterpart Josh Welch also had 10 saves.
