At some point, the Westhill and Marcellus boys soccer teams might face each other in the Section III Class B playoffs – though, because the Warriors are the no. 2 seed and the Mustangs the no. 4 seed, it wouldn’t happen until a possible championship game.
But if they do meet, they’ll have fresh memories of one another, thanks to last Wednesday’s head-to-head battle on the Mustangs’ turf where the Warriors, needing some confidence before the sectional tournament, gained it in a tough 2-1 victory over the Mustangs to finish its regular season with a 12-2-2 mark as Marcellus fell to 11-4-1.
Westhill won their first encounter 2-0 at home on Sept. 22. Here, neither side broke through in a 0-0 first half, but after the break the Mustangs got on the board thanks to Mike Kent’s unassisted goal.
Yet it wasn’t enough, the Warriors seeing Nick Colella and Ryan Zimmerman find the net and Braeden Elmer earn an assist. Antonio Scrimale recorded five saves, with the Mustangs’ Ryan Rosenboom making seven saves.
Bound for the Class D sectional tournament as the top seed despite facing Class C foes all season, Bishop Ludden thoroughly enjoyed last Tuesday’s game at Cato-Meridian, prevailing 6-1 as it jumped all over the Blue Devils during a 4-0 first half.
Tom Muller anchored the Gaelic Knights’ attack, earning three assists to go with his lone goal. Only Lucas Scutari scored twice, with Justin Eisenhauer, Connor Catalano and Matt Barletta earning the other goals. Brendan Downey and Mack McCurn joined Eisenhauer with single assists.
In a big match against visiting Tully 24 hours later, Ludden looked to get even for a 3-2 defeat to the Black Knights on Sept. 18 – and did so, prevailing by a 2-1 margin.
All of the goals came in the second half, the Gaelic Knights moving in front as Scutari and Muller found the net to counter Jon Lippert’s goal for Tully. They played on even terms, taking equal numbers of shots as Peter Lockwood and Bryan Lawler combined for seven saves, exactly the total of Black Knights counterpart Wes Fecco.
Then came Ludden’s game against Bishop Grimes on Friday night at Onondaga Community College’s turf. The Cobras were riding a five-game win streak, the last two of them coming in overtime, but the Gaelic Knights would break up that string, prevailing in a 1-0 shutout to improve its record to 11-3.
Cold, wet and windy conditions, along with the artificial surface at OCC, created plenty of challenges. Fortunately for Ludden, Scutari scored in the first half, assisted by Downey, and the Gaelic Knights protected that slim margin the rest of the way by holding Grimes to five shots, all stopped by Lockwood. Cobras goalie Peter Delvecchio kept his team in it by recording 13 saves.
Though West Genesee faced its share of struggles in 2015, it did finish the regular season quite well, going from knocking off Westhill on Oct. 10 to putting a scare into state Class AA no. 7-ranked Liverpool in last Tuesday night’s 2-1 defeat.
Constantly in a defensive stance, WG turned away most of the Warriors’ chances thanks to goalie Ryan Mavretish, who made 15 saves. His work, along with Joe Gauzza’s unassisted goal, made it 1-1 going into halftime, though Liverpool got in front in the second half as Ben Root and A.J. Sinclair found the net for the visitors.
In Thursday’s Senior Night game against visiting Skaneateles, the Wildcats took a 2-0 defeat to the Lakers, Between them, Mavretish and Kamel Awayda, under constant attack, made 14 saves, but first-half goals by Tristan Custer and Jack Kimm helped Skaneateles prevail.
WG would conclude its regular season at Cicero-North Syracuse on Saturday, and not get on the board in a 2-0 defeat to the Northstars, leaving them with a final mark of 4-12.
Two local sides met each other last Tuesday night at Earl Hadley Stadium, with Solvay, mired at 3-11, giving itself a bright moment by keeping Jordan-Elbridge out of the net in a 3-0 shutout of the Eagles.
A first-half tally gave Solvay a 1-0 advantage, but it didn’t stop there, overcoming J-E netminder Max Bondgren’s six saves with two more scoring plays. Three different Bearcat players – Zaric Raymand, Vishma Bhattari and Jordan Devereaux – had those three goals, with Vlad Trut and Nate Kosecki earning assists.
Visiting Cortland Thursday night, the Bearcats turned it around by blanking the Purple Tigers 5-0. Meanwhile, J-E, at 2-12, had one more home game left, meeting Chittenango on Thursday and getting on the board – but only in the second half of a 6-2 defeat to the Bears.
Colby Falcone and Russell Hines found the net, with Jonah Patrick assisting on Hines’ goal after Chittenango built a 3-0 halftime lead, led by Seamus St. Ledger’s goal and two assists as six different Bears players netted goals by game’s end. From there, J-E went to Oswego on Friday and played the Buccaneers to a 0-0 draw.
