All is now in place for the Cazenovia girls soccer team as, on Tuesday night, it welcomes Westhill to the Sean Googin Sports Complex in a game that would determine who would have the lead in the OHSL Liberty division midway through the regular season.
And the Lakers did not, in any way, get caught looking ahead, as evidenced by the way it dismantled two league foes in last week’s action.
It began with Cazenovia taking apart Jordan-Elbridge 8-0 last Tuesday night. Wasting no time, the Lakers peppered the Eagles throughout the first 40 minutes and didn’t let up until it owned a 7-0 lead and had a chance to rest all of its top players.
Before she left, though, Audrey Burbidge earned yet another hat trick, scoring three goals and adding a pair of assists. Ample support came from Paige Ackermann, with her two goals and one assist, while Casey Crawford, Grace Milmoe and Colby Lucas also took turns finding the net.
It was just as lopsided Saturday afternoon, when Cazenovia took apart Phoenix 11-0, much of the damage done in the first half when the Lakers managed to score nine times.
Burbidge had four of those goals, with Ackermann gaining two goals and one assist. Crawford, Milmoe, Hannah Scanlon, Olivia McEntee and Keara Dwyer had one goal apiece, with Kelsi Fredericks getting a pair of assists. Lucas and Lizzy Bigsby joined Crawford with one assist apiece.
Chittenango returned to league action fresh off a victory in its own Sept. 13-14 tournament, which included a tense 3-2 first-round win over Oneida and, in the final against Solvay, a wild second half, but a happy resolution as the Bears beat the Bearcats 5-3.
The game was fairly quiet until the second half, when the Bearcats, down 1-0, scored three times, two of them by Mackenzie Lee.
Yet Chittenango answered every time, Lauren Billington recording her latest three-goal hat trick as Shoemaker and Morgan Young also scored. Alli Cerio had a pair of assists, with Young and Maddie Flack also getting assists. Central Square topped Oneida 3-1 in the consolation game.
Without much time to rest, Chittenango played again last Tuesday, against Homer, and the cumulative toll of three games in four days hit the Bears in a 3-1 loss to the Trojans.
Though Kayla Bain’s goal prevented a shutout, Billington and the other Chittenango players were contained well, and Boyer’s 11 saves could not prevent Homer’s trio of Olivia Porter, Carolyne Yonta and Madison Dimorier from getting the decisive goals.
After a bit of rest, Chittenango had to face reigning Section III Class B champion Marcellus on Saturday. Having moved up to the Class A ranks this fall, the Mustangs still controlled matters and beat the Bears 3-0.
Even with a heavy wind at its back, Chittenango could not sustain an attack in the first half, the Mustangs going up 1-0 on Bri Sammon’s goal. Then Marcellus got clear with Shannon White’s goal in the 55th minute and a second tally from Sammon, the work negating Katy Myka’s five saves.
Having dropped to 4-3 on the season, the Bears would then meet the reigning Class A sectional champions, Jamesville-DeWit, on Tuesday before a Thursday trip to Cortland. Cazenovia, meanwhile, hosts Jordan-Elbridge on Friday after the clash with Westhill.
