Both on the road, yet separated by a wide swath of Central New York geography, each of the Cazenovia soccer teams attempted to spring surprises during their respective Section III Class B quarterfinals, but could not pull them off.
A smaller sectional bracket than in years past meant that the no. 6 seed girls Lakers didn’t have to endure an opening-round test. Instead, it went straight into the quarterfinal round last Thursday night and had to go face Lowville.
Though it was only the no. 3 seed, the Red Raiders, at 15-0-1, was no. 2 in the latest state Class B rankings.
The only reason Lowville was seeded behind Marcellus and Westhill for the sectional tournament was because it didn’t have as many games against Class B foes as the Mustangs and Warriors and, as a result, were behind them in the points system used to put the bracket together.
Still, Cazenovia, steeled by its tougher schedule that included double doses of Marcellus and Westhill, would make Lowville sweat throughout the evening before the dream of a massive upset fell short in a 1-0 defeat to the Red Raiders.
The main conflict of this game paired Cazenovia’s aggressive attack, led by the likes of Saige Ackerman and Casey Crawford, against a Lowville defense that had shut out 13 of its 16 regular-season opponents and hadn’t allowed a goal since beating Copenhagen 3-1 on Oct. 2.
Indeed, the Lakers did get most of the chances in the first half, but the Red Raiders turned them back, keeping it 0-0. It stayed that way deep into the second half, too, with the Lakers’ defense handling matters whenever threatened.
Then, in the 57th minute, Lowville got another chance, and Selena Beller, off a feed from Chelsea Hoffman, pushed a shot that sailed past goalie Hannah Madison, ricocheted off the left post and went into the net to break the deadlock. Try as it could, Cazenovia could not answer it, seeing all six of its shots gobbled up by Red Raiders goalie Alexis Bach.
Thus, Cassie Kleine’s first season as Lakers head coach ended with an 8-7-2 mark, but this might only prove a beginning. Just two players on the roster – Olivia McEntee and Aubrie Cross – were seniors, and with a big lineup back for 2017, a championship push is expected.
While this was going on, Cazenovia’s boys soccer team faced a similar dilemma when, as the no. 7 seed in its sectional Class B tournament, it tried to topple no. 2 seed Westhill in its Class B quarterfinal, but could not do so, falling to the Warriors 2-0.
As with the girls side, the boys sectional Class B bracket was smaller in 2015, with just nine teams, So Cazenovia leapt straight into the quarterfinals and to an immense challenge against Westhill.
They were quite familiar with each other, thanks to two regular-season meetings, the latest of which ended in a 2-2 draw Oct. 6 at the Sean Googin Sports Complex. That result gave Cazenovia reason to think that it had cracked the code of Westhill’s stellar defense and could do so again with much higher stakes.
That did not happen, though. Showing the form that earned seven consecutive shutouts to start the season (including a 3-0 dusting of Cazenovia on this same turf Sept. 15), the Warriors held the Lakers to just three shots all night.
And while Cazenovia had a solid defensive effort of its own, and Tom Bragg made five saves, Westhill did break through once in each half, with Mike Lantry earning one goal and assisting on the other, by Ryan Zimmerman. Owen Hoyne assisted on Lantry’s scoring play.
Having finished its season at 8-8-1, these Lakers have to face the reality of graduating 13 seniors from its roster.
