Having spent nearly half the regular season carving up opposing defenses, the West Genesee girls soccer team was now going to find out just how much it had improved since 2015 as the level of competition picked up.
What was more, the Wildcats would have to carry on without one of its top players, Grace Schnorr, whose torn ACL means that she will miss the rest of the season.
Jamesville-DeWitt, winners of the last seven Section III Class A titles and a state finalist in 2015, paid a visit to Camillus last Saturday afternoon, and gave the Wildcats a game-long lesson in championship soccer, performing well all over the field and prevailing 4-1 to hand WG its first defeat of the fall campaign.
Accustomed to attacking at will and converting often, it had to jolt the Wildcats to fall behind early, for even with Megan Delia’s unassisted goal, WG trailed, 2-1 at halftime, and would see things get worse in the latter stages.
Liz Croft made five saves, but J-D’s strong group of forwards still made successful finishes. Ali Durkin scored twice, while Sophia Dimkopoulos and Alex Epifani earned one goal apiece as Grace Dimkopoulos earned a pair of assists and Elena Haarer added one assist.
Short-term, Schnorr’s absence didn’t bother WG one bit as it took a six-game win streak into last Tuesday’s game against Fayetteville-Manlius and, once again, lit up the scoreboard in the course of a 6-2 romp over the Hornets.
For the fourth game in a row, the Wildcats surpassed the five-goal mark, nearly doing so during a first half where it raced to a 4-1 lead and, again, spread the production around so that F-M didn’t know who to contain.
Haley Elsey, who remains WG’s top goal-scorer, added two more to that total. Emma Parry, Kelly Cooper, Camryn McCarthy and Victoria Desantis also found the net, with Victoria Bove and Erin Mills earning assists.
The loss to J-D hurt, but the Wildcats knew more important games, including Friday’s showdown with unbeaten, defending sectional Class AA champion Baldwinsville, still lay ahead.
Bishop Ludden continued its strong start by topping Waterville 4-2 last Monday night, with all of the damage done in a first half where the Gaelic Knights roared out to a 4-0 lead, giving it a cushion against some late defensive struggles.
Abbey Bombard led Ludden’s outburst, scoring twice and adding an assist. Emma Driscoll and Lauren Hosek had the other goals, and Kara Beamish recorded 11 saves before Waterville’s duo of Jillian Fister and Sydney Cook hit on some late goals.
Now at 5-0-1, the Gaelic Knights went for more against LaFayette 24 hours later, and unlike with Waterville, Ludden had to wait until the second half to make its big move and pull out a 2-1 decision over the Lancers.
Neither team scored during the first half, with the Gaelic Knights dominating the flow of play, but unable to get anything past LaFayette goalie Taylor Cook, who had 25 saves overall. Ludden did solve Cook twice after the break, though, as Bombard and Driscoll earned the goals and Hosek added an assist. Maya DeJoseph scored for the Lancers.
And this led to a key game Thursday between Ludden and Manlius-Pebble Hill, which saw the Gaelic Knights trail early before Driscoll’s clutch play helped rescue a 2-1 overtime victory over the Trojans.
Ludden trailed, 1-0, at the break, thanks to Lisa Morocco’s goal. But Driscoll tied it and, despite nine saves from MPH goalie Sarah Smith, beat her again for the game-winner in the first OT period. The Gaelic Knights defene protected that slim margin as Kara Beamish worked her total to seven saves.
Yet another win came on Saturday, Ludden turning back Tully in an impressive 3-1 effort where a first-half scoring blitz left the Black Knights far behind.
Thanks to two goals from Bombard and another from Driscoll (Hosek added an assist), the Gaelic Knights had a 3-0 halftime edge. Tully didn’t quit, getting on the board with Jessica Donald’s second-half goal, but Beamish turned back everything else and finished with six saves.
Jordan-Elbridge played just once last week and took full advantage of it, defeating Altmar-Parish-Williamstown 4-2 in last Tuesday’s action by taking 34 shots and converting enough to withstand the Rebels’ challenge.
The Eagles got four different players – Kyra White, Emily Somes, Rylie Parker and Alexis Braun – to score those four goals. Allison Jennings added an assist as Sophia Titus and Mia Arms combined for eight saves.
