Though the Westhill girls soccer team has recorded plenty of wins in 2015, none were as memorable, or improbable, as last Thursday night’s 5-3 victory over Cazenovia at th Sean Googin Sports Complex.
At one point, the visiting Warriors trailed 3-0, and its state Class B no. 2 ranking was in jeopardy. But with relentless pressure, the Warriors wore the Lakers down and may have given itself a massive boost for the rest of the season.
Just 11 days earlier, on Sept. 28, Westhill beat Cazenovia 3-1, with all of the goals coming in the second half. The Warriors hadn’t played since, and in the rematch, the rust nearly led to disaster.
Twice in the first half, the Lakers’ Saige Ackermann made her way around the Warriors’ defenders to put in goals, and created a 2-0 halftime margin When Jamie Joseph added a goal early in the second half, Westhill, down 3-0, was facing its largest deficit of the season.
But a quick answering goal began the long comeback, and in a flash at the 10-minute mark, the Warriors scored twice to tie it, 3-3. Stunned by all this, Cazenovia could only watch as Westhill added two more goals in the last six minutes to move in front.
Jayanna Monds and Megan O’Reilly led the rally, each scoring twice, while Erin McMullen earned the other goal. Katelyn Karleski contributed an assist.
Marcellus, following its first loss of the season to Jamesville-DeWitt on Oct. 1, routed the combined Syracuse city team 8-1 two days later. Emily Alexander, Madi Belvito and Liz White scored in a seven-minute stretch of the first half to break things open.
Belvito added another goal just before halftime to make it 4-0 and completed her hat trick midway through the second half. Emily Buschbascher, who played in goal in the first half, took the field in the second half and got her first goal as Ashley Gilmore and Keelin Kelly also found the net, with Kelly tacking on a pair of assists.
In a much closer match at Fulton last Tuesday, Marcellus edged the Red Raiders 2-1, getting a first-half goal from Belvito before Fulton’s Sydney Gilmore tied it later in the half. With 13;03 left in regulation, Belvito fed Mia Montreal, who streaked up from midfield to take the pass and deposit the game-winner past Red Raiders goalie Maddie Lang.
No such drama was found in Thursday’s 6-1 victory over Hannibal, where the Mustangs had a 2-0 lead by the 12- minute mark with goals from Montreal and Alaina Young, with Shannon White and Meg Blystone also converting before halftime. White added a second goal less than two minutes into the second half, and Belvito converted, too.
As it inched closer to appearing in the sectional Class AA tournament, West Genesee started last week’s action with a 2-2 draw against Auburn.
This game had plenty of action, with the Wildcats going up 1-0 in the first half and the Maroons tying it during the second half. Then, after a scoreless first OT period, each side found the net during the 10 minutes of the second extra frame.
Olivia Price and Teresa Petrus scored for WG, both goals unassisted. Bridget Moore and Bridget Cuddy landed the Auburn tallies, though Mikayla Kerr surrendered nothing more on her way to six saves. Auburn’s top goalie, Ally Nicolosi, had 10 saves.
But the Wildcats did prevail Thursday night, edging Cicero-North Syracuse 1-0. Neither team got on the board until the second half, when Price again delivered a big goal, assisted by Grace Schnorr, and Emma Madonna, with her eight saves made it stand. Northstars netminder Olivia Haven had nine saves.
And then WG put a scare into unbeaten, state Class A no. 2-ranked Jamesville-DeWitt on Saturday before taking a 3-2 defeat to the Red Rams.
No one else, other than Westhill, had played J-D so close this fall, Trailing 1-0 at halftime, the Wildcats saw Price and Megan Delia both net goals, with Grace Schnoor adding an assist. Yet J-D matched that production to hang on as goals by Paige Sherling, Alex Epifani and Sophia Dimkopoulos overcame Madonna’s nine saves.
Bishop Ludden hosted state Class C no. 4-ranked Bishop Grimes last Tuesday night and took a 3-0 defeat to the Cobras. They had met exactly two weeks earlier, on Sept. 20, and the Gaelic Knights lost 2-0, hoping the rematch would be different.
But it proved quite similar, again with Ludden trailing 1-0 at halftime and again with Grimes pulling clear in the latter stages, this time with two more scoring plays. Kara Beamish made seven saves as, for Grimes, Kennedy Yearby and Sidney Dobbins found the net, just as in the first meeting, with Lily Rogers joining them.
Ludden was shut out again on Thursday night, but at least it salvaged a 0-0 draw with Onondaga, both sides getting plenty of chances in the 80 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime, but unable to convert. Beamish had nine saves, but so did OCS goalie Abi Wood.
A rare bright moment for Jordan-Elbridge came last Monday when it beat Tyburn Academy 4-1, and then would have its own game against Syracuse on Thursday afternoon – where it lost, 2-1, unable to hold a 1-0 halftime lead. Erin Irving and Brielle Glover notched Syracuse’s goals.
Angry at this, J-E took it out on Fabius-Pompey Friday in a 3-0 shutout of the Falcons. They were still 0-0 going into the second half, but all of that changed thanks to Rylie Parker putting in a pair of goals for the Eagles, helped by Alexis Braun, who also found the net, and Julie Hines and Allison Jennings, who had one assist apiece. Mia Arms made eight saves.
Solvay, running into Chittenango last Monday, lost, 7-0, to the Bears, despite 11 saves from goalie Maria Leonardo. Lauren Billington had two goals and two assists to lead the Bears as Kayla Bain added two goals and one assist, and Ashley Young earned four assists.
The Bearcats then took a 4-0 loss to Skaneateles two nights later, but finally got in the win column Friday by edging Phoenix 1-0. Leonardo stopped all 12 shots she faced, which allowed Aleah Yaizzo’s first-half goal to hold up. It was just Solvay’s second win of the season against 12 defeats.
