A Westhill boys soccer team that, for half a season, was invincible on the defensive side has proven mortal when dealing with foes the second time around.
And with others such as West Genesee, whom it met Saturday in the Friendship Cup, the issues were of a more general concern as the Wildcats, who had struggled through much of this season, knocked off the Warriors 2-1.
WG took a 1-0 edge into halftime thanks to Manny Castro’s goal, and saw Castro convert again in the second half to counteract Westhill’s lone goal, earned by Mike Lantry off a feed from Kyle Rey.
The rest of it belonged to the Wildcats’ defense, who were forced to defend through most of the game, but kept the Warriors out in large part due to goalie Ryan Mavretish stopping 14 of the 15 shots he faced.
Before that, it was Skaneateles giving Westhill its first defeat in a 2-1 decision on Oct. 1. Then it was Clinton pushing Westhill to overtime in another 2-1 match two days later. More conflict arose last Tuesday night, when the Warriors saw a late lead get away in a 2-2 draw with Cazenovia.
Having blanked those other Lakers 3-0 on Sept. 15, Westhill knew that Cazenovia, playing on its home grass at the Sean Googin Sports Complex, would want to fare better, and it did, playing the Warriors to a 1-1 first-half stalemate.
Midway through the second half, Westhill went in front, 2-1, and its defense tried to hold that lead – only to see Alex Pezzi put a shot past Antonio Scrimale with just one minute left in regulation. So it went to overtime, just like it did again Clinton, but here the Warriors could not find the game-winner.
Connor Schwartz and Jack Miller earned Westhill’s goals, each of them unassisted. Scrimale finished with eight saves, one less than Cazenovia counterpart Tom Bragg.
Now the Warriors got to face a pair of local foes, starting with Thursday’s game against Solvay. But even this game didn’t prove too easy for the Warriors, who had to go all 80 minutes to put away the Bearcats in a 2-1 decision.
Vlad Trut put one past Scrimale in the first half, and that helped Solvay forge a 1-1 halftime tie. Not until the second half did the Warriors lead for good, having seen Miller and Braeden Elmer put in the goals to overcome six saves from Bearcats goalie Joe Reale.
Westhill’s loss to West Genesee would follow. Before that, WG’s struggles had continued last Tuesday with a 5-1 defeat to Henninger.
By the time Ricky Francisco netted a goal in the second half, the Black Knights’ damage was done, Mavretish recording 13 saves, but unable to stop the likes of Lay Mu Taw, who led Henninger with four assists, and Abdi Abdirashid, who scored twice.
