When it left Skaneateles after a 1-1 draw on Sept. 9, the Westhill boys soccer team had to figure that it was still among the top OHSL Liberty division sides.
Then the Warriors ventured to Cazenovia last Monday night, and those other Lakers jumped all over the visitors in the first 45 minutes, leaving them in a hole too deep to dig out of as it lost, 4-1, at the Sean Googin Sports Complex.
A diverse, aggressive Cazenovia attack took advantage of every possible Westhill defensive mistake in the first half. Ryan Modzeleski was the focal point, netting one goal and also assisting on tallies by Joe Spires and Chris Becker to create a 3-0 advantage at the break. John Williams was credited with an assist.
Yet the Lakers had also led Marcellus by that margin on Sept. 10, only to hold off a furious Mustangs comeback and escape with a 3-2 win. Remembering that, Cazenovia continued its attack and, five minutes into the second half, made it 4-0 on Modzeleski’s second goal.
It wasn’t until the 63rd minute that the Warriors got on the board with Noah Rolince’s goal off a feed from Cameron Rudnick, but that was all Westhill could muster. Thomas Bragg only had to make five saves as Cazenovia’s defense did a strong job of protection throughout the night.
While Westhill fell to 1-1-2 and waited a week to resume action, Marcellus had its own key games to worry about, none more so that Saturday’s trip to Hyatt Stadium to face defending Section III Class B champion Skaneateles, the renewal of a long and colorful rivalry.
Unfortunately for the Mustangs, it never could get going against the Lakers, taking a 3-0 defeat. Luke Palmer’s goal in the first half put Skaneateles in front, and it stayed a one-goal margin for most of the afternoon.
That was due to Marcellus goalkeeper Zhao Angotti, who dazzled with 11 saves, hoping that his teammates could equalize. But it had just four shots for the entire game and, instead, the Lakers’ Tristan Custer struck for back-to-back goals in the last three minutes to make the margin a bit more lopsided. These two sides meet again on Sept. 26, just nine days after the first encounter.
Marcellus tuned up for Skaneateles by first earning a 4-1 victory over the Chittenango Bears last Monday night. Just as Cazenovia had done to Westhill, the Mustangs wounded Chittenango with a 3-0 first-half surge and wouldn’t get caught.
Four different players – Brendan Shanahan, Noah LaFever, Alec Stasyuk and Nick Zimmer – scored those four goals, with Nate Kellar and David Bosak earning assists. Seth Spurgeon earned the Bears’ lone goal in the second half, one of just four Chittenango shots all night.
Then came a 10-0 rout over Utica Academy of Science, a charter school in its first varsity season. Kellar netted a three-goal hat trick, with Shawn Manke and Con Clarke each scoring twice. Stasyuk augmented his single goal with four assists as Bosak and Tim Sheridan also scored. Carter Austin, Nick DiStefano and Zhao Angotti earned assists.
Solvay, who was 2-2 going into the week, struggled in a 5-0 defeat to Skaneateles at Hyatt Stadium. Joe Guadagnolo made 11 saves as the Bearcats’ goalie, but the Lakers proved too tough as Reggie Buell led with two goals and one assist.
This led to the Bearcats’ game against Jordan-Elbridge two nights later, and it was all Solvay in a 5-0 shutout where it gained a 2-0 edge on the Eagles by halftime and kept it rolling thanks to the duo of Jordan Devereaux and Nazar Trut.
Devereaux earned the first three-goal hat trick of his varsity career, and Trut set his own career mark with three assists. Mike Tomoroska helped, too, with two assists to go with his lone goal as Ed Matsyuk also found the net. J-E goalie Max Bondgren had to make 11 saves.
