The agenda for Cazenovia and Chittenango’s girls soccer teams last week had some similarities to them, most notably games against state-ranked defending Section III champions that neither side could conquer.
Cazenovia’s task at Westhill last Monday night was a big one, but the Lakers, riding a four-game win streak, pushed the Warriors hard before a scoring flurry late in the second half led to a 3-1 defeat.
Despite spending a lot of time in its own end, Cazenovia would manage to play the Warriors to a 0-0 halftime draw, aided by the work of goalie Hannah Matteson, who made most of her 11 saves in those first 40 minutes.
Westhill broke through, though, with a goal less than four minutes into the second half. Then, in a wild flurry, the Warriors made it 2-0 with 12:38 left, only to have Cazenovia’s Kirsten Underwood take a pass from Madeline Gavitt and answer 29 seconds later – but Westhill restored its two-goal margin a mere 2:33 after Underwood converted.
Megan O’Reilly assisted on two of those goals, with Jayanna Monds, Katelyn Karleski and Abby Stack each finding their way to the scoring column. Erin McMullen also earned an assist as the Warriors’ defense remained tough, Arianna Heneberry stopping 10 of the 11 shots she faced.
All of the conditions were different when Christian Brothers Academy visited a rain-soaked Sean Googin Sports Complex two nights later, but the Lakers managed to play the Brothers to a 0-0 draw.
The long, tense battle covered 80 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime. Each side had multiple chances to pull out in front, with Cazenovia taking more shots, but constantly thwarted by CBA goalie Catherine Burns, who had 10 saves. Yet the Lakers’ defense was just as good, holding the Brothers to eight shots, all of which stopped by Matteson.
Chittenango, meanwhile, would get its biggest challenge of the fall last Tuesday night, hosting unbeaten, state Class A no. 2-ranked Jamesville-DeWitt. Perhaps aided by the heavy rain, the state no. 19-ranked Bears would play on even terms with the Red Rams for most of the night before taking a 3-2 defeat.
What made that effort even more remarkable was that, in its previous game, Chittenango got run over by unranked CBA in a 5-0 loss. Angry at what happened there, the Bears put even more into J-D, and found out that its wide-open, attacking style was something that bothered the Rams in a way others could not do.
They were tied, 1-1, at halftime, enduring the heavy precipitation as Lauren Billington converted once in the first half, and did so again in the second half, both times her goals assisted by Kayla Bain.
Chittenango also matched J-D in the amount of opportunities, as Rams goalie Katie Cappelletti had to make as many saves (seven) as Bears counterpart Katy Myka. Still, J-D pulled through thanks to Alex Catanzarite’s pair of goals and a tally from Allie Balotin, with assists credited to Paige Sherling and Alex Epifani.
