In the battle for local girls soccer supremacy, West Genesee zoomed past Westhill during the long Labor Day weekend, when the Wildcats hosted its own tournament, but the Warriors made up for it by knocking off Jamesville-DeWitt 3-2 during the week that followed.
The opening round on Sept. 2 pitted WG against Westhill, and the Wildcats put on a tremendous all-around effort to prevail 3-0, taking the lead early and adding to it thanks to the work of Haley Eisey, who netted two of her team’s goals.
Olivia Price, off to her own hot start, had the other goal, while Erin Mills and Megan Delia picked up assists. Westhill had plenty of opportunities throughout the game, but could not get anything past WG goalies Elizabeth Croft and Erin Lum, who combined for nine saves. Warriors goalie Bella Lavigne had eight saves.
Auburn beat Central Square 1-0 in the other opening-round game, so the Red Hawks would face Westhill for third place before the Maroons and WG squared off for the title.
Both local sides would win big. WG pulled away from Auburn 8-0, and Elsey continued her strong play, netting three goals for a hat trick and adding a pair of assists. Grace Schnorr added one goal and one assist, while Caitlin Barry, Mia Sveen, Camryn McCarthy and Victoria Bove also netted goals. Delia and Emma Parry earned assists.
Before that, Westhill blanked Central Square 6-0, led by Ashley Corning, who had three assists, and Megan O’Reilly, who scored twice. Erin McMullen, Katelyn Karleski and Ciarra Rudnick also earned goals, with Abby Stack and Jayanna Monds earning assists.
And once the tournament was done, Westhill turned its attention to J-D, the area’s dominant Class A program, who comes off a 2015 state finals appearance, but had lost 4-2 to Baldwinsville the previous weekend.
Almost by herself, Monds would get the Warriors going against the Red Rams, scoring twice in the first half. Still, J-D hung tough and, trailing 2-1 late in the second half, put in the tying goal – only to have Monds find the net again with nine minutes to play.
The Warriors hung on from there, Erica Gangemi having assisted on two of Monds’ scoring plays and Morgan Elmer also getting an assist. J-D lost despite goals from Alex Catanzarite and Lainey Foti, mainly because Westhill goalie Bella Lavigne made eight saves, three more than Rams counterpart Emma Silverstein.
Both WG and Westhill would play again late the following week – with the Wildcats adding two more wins to its gaudy total.
In last Thursday’s 9-1 romp over Utica Proctor, WG saw Delia and Sveen both notch two goals and one assist. McCarthy and Parry each scored once and added single assists as Bove, Schnorr and Elsey chipped in with goals of their own.
WG handled Oswego 5-1 on Saturday afternoon, not getting away until the second half,, when a 1-0 lead grew behind a well-balanced attack. Five different players – Barry, Elsey, Kelly Cooper, Jacquelina Vigliotti and Kelly Cooper – got the Wildcats’ five goals, with Mills joining Cooper and Elsey in the assist column.
Also playing on Saturday, Westhill gained an impressive 4-1 victory over Homer, improving its mark to 5-1 but knowing a showdown with its main Class B championship rival, Marcellus, looms this Thursday night on the Mustangs’ home turf.
Away from all this, Bishop Ludden had an impressive showing against Tully, the Gaelic Knights and Black Knights playing to a 0-0 draw as 80 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime did not produce a goal.
Tully had more opportunities, but a tough Ludden defense, plus 11 saves from Kara Beamish, helped keep it scoreless. The Gaelic Knights took seven shots, all of them stopped by Black Knights goalie Emily Lantiegne.
Back home last Tuesday night, the Gaelic Knights blanked Bishop Grimes 2-0 in a game that had a pair of top-notch performances, one on each side.
During the first half, Ludden’s Emma Driscoll scored twice, one of those goals assisted by Hannah Roesch. That it didn’t turn more lopsided was entirely a tribute to Grimes goalkeeper Marissa Curtis, who made an astonishing 24 saves, but didn’t get much relief from the pressure put on her by the Gaelic Knights, who only allowed four shots.
Jordan-Elbridge rolled on Sept. 2, shutting out Pulaski 6-0. Rylie Parker, with two goals, led a balanced attack where four other Eagles – Alexis Braun, Allison Jennings, Katie Goodrich and Emily Somers – also found the net. Alexis Fietta and Julie Hines joined Braun in the assist column.
Taking a 2-1 record into last Tuesday’s game at Phoenix, the Eagles began this home-and-home series with a 4-2 victory. Three days later, it was J-E’s turn to host the Firebirds– but the result was reversed, Phoenix prevailing 5-3.
But the Eagles won another 6-0 decision over Union Springs on Saturday night, improving to 4-2 on the season as it hosted Altmar-Parish-Williamstown Monday in its lone game this week.
Solvay scored four unanswered goals in the first half and put away Pulaski 5-1 last Wednesday night for its first win of the season.
Makenzie Lee and Maya Martineau both scored twice, with Lee tacking on an assist. Camielle Devereaux had the other goal as Tori Quinn and Alina Zdebska earned one assist apiece. Combined, Haley Muehl and Kierstein Scholl stopped 10 of the 11 shots they faced.
