West Genesee’s boys soccer team, though assured of a Section III Class AA playoff berth, did not have a signature win for its 2014 regular season – until the very end of it.
Making a trip to Gillette Field last Thursday night, the Wildcats played some of its best defense of the season and used a single goal in the first half to stun the Northstars 1-0 and move to the .500 mark (8-8) overall.
Just before that, WG lost, 4-1, to defending champion Baldwinsville last Tuesday night. The Bees ended things early with a 4-0 first-half blitz. Despite Michael Apenteng’s second-half goal, B’ville was out of reach, the goals by Griffin Lynch, Connor Ross, Alex Burrer and Alex Anselment holding up.
As it went through its last week of the regular season, Bishop Ludden also gained confidence, especially when it went to Bishop Grimes last Tuesday and, with a late surge, earned a 2-0 victory over the Cobras to move its mark to 9-4-2.
Having won their first meeting 2-1 on Sept. 18, the Gaelic Knights found Grimes a bit more stingy in the rematch, especially in the early going, Ludden unable to get a shot past Cobras goalie Jack Rotondo, who would make nine saves.
But the Gaelic Knights would break through in the second half, getting goals from Liam Katko and Lucas Scutari, and then watching as the defense preserved that lead thanks to eight saves from goalkeeper Adam Lockwood.
Ludden would get a bigger test when it visited Tully on Friday afternoon, and would struggle from start to finish in a 5-0 defeat to the Black Knights.
More specifically, the Gaelic Knights spent the entire game trying to figure out how to slow down Tully forward David Johnson – and it didn’t work. Johnson scored four times as the Black Knights, up 2-0 at halftime, got further away. Dave McNerney added a goal and two assists, with Lockwood managing 10 saves on Ludden’s side.
Solvay, visiting Skaneateles last Thursday night, played the OHSL Liberty National division champion Lakers on even terms in the early stages, but saw it get away late in a 4-1 defeat to the Lakers that sent the Bearcats’ record to 7-8-1.
It was Nazar Trut’s first-half goal, assisted by Ruslan Sovloskiy, which had the Bearcats going to the break with a 1-1 tie. Yet it could not pull out in front, instead seeing Skaneateles overwhelm the defense in the last 40 minutes as Sam Clymer, with two goals and one assist, led the Lakers’ charge.
Drawing the no. 7 seed in the Class B sectional bracket, the Bearcats would host no. 10 seed Adirondack in Tuesday’s opening round, looking to advance to Friday’s quarterfinal against no. 2 seed Skaneateles at Hyatt Stadium.
Bishop Ludden, meanwhile, moved to Class D for the 2014 sectionals, and with the no. 3 seed will play no. 14 seed Alexandria Bay in the first round, hoping to advance to a quarterfinal Friday against no. 6 seed Old Forge and no. 11 seed LaFargeville.
And West Genesee enters the sectional Class AA tournament as the no. 9 seed, meaning that, if it can beat no. 8 seed Liverpool in Wednesday night’s opener at LHS Stadium, it goes to Swan Pond Friday to try and knock off 16-0 top seed Fayetteville-Manlius in the quarterfinals.
