Having suffered its first defeat of the season at the expense of Class A powerhouse Jamesville-DeWitt on Sept. 17, the West Genesee girls soccer team responded well to the humbling lesson, even if more tough times lay ahead.
And none of those games mattered more than Friday’s visit from unbeaten, defending Section III Class AA champion Baldwinsville. Here, the Wildcats took a 1-0 defeat, yet proved to itself that, at the very least, it could play right with a powerhouse like the Bees.
Throughout the first half, B’ville applied pressure, only to have WG’s physical defense turn them back and protect goalie Elizabeth Croft, who would finish the night with seven saves.
Deep into the second half, it stayed 0-0, but the Bees inched in front thanks to Leah Burrer’s unassisted goal. Try as it could, the Wildcats could not pull back even, with all five of its shots turned away by B’ville netminder Mackenzie Hanna.
Before this, in a trip to Archie Hall Stadium last Tuesday night, the Wildcats took on Cicero-North Syracuse, and the combination of timely scoring plays in the early stages, plus strong, steady defense throughout the night, produced a 2-0 shutout of the Northstars.
Though C-NS tried to offer its own bit of resistance, WG got to them twice in the first half, thanks to goals by Olivia Price and Megan Delia, with Erin Mills getting an assist. Staked to that two-goal edge, the Wildcats clamped down, holding C-NS to five shots, all of which were stopped by Croft.
Bishop Ludden’s girls soccer team was not recognized with a spot in the state Class C rankings for its 8-0-1 start. Rankled by this, the Gaelic Knights took it out on opponents, starting with last Monday’s 3-0 shutout over Fabius-Pompey.
The key to the Gaelic Knights’ win was netting a first-half goal. Gradually, it wore down the Falcons and saw Lauren Hosek net two goals, with Olivia Boyea also finding the net. Emma Driscoll contributed an assist and Kara Beamish made seven saves before Riley Murphy replaced her in the late going.
Then Ludden pummeled Tyburn Academy 7-1 Thursday night, and on Friday met Cato-Meridian, making it 12 straight without a loss as it turned back the Blue Devils 5-2.
Against Tyburn, it was 4-0 by halftime and Ludden never got caught thanks to a well-balanced attack where Ally Weigand poured in a pair of goals. Boyea, Avery Corriero and Brigid Lawless also took turns finding the net, Driscoll and Bailey Thieben adding assists.
A day later, while jumping out to a 4-1 halftime lead on Cato-Meridian, the Gaelic Knights saw Driscoll notch a pair of goals, while Bombard had one goal and one assist. Olivia Boyea and Chenze Diglio had the other goals as Ally Weigand contributed an assist.
Before all of this, Solvay opened the week by pulling out a 1-0 overtime victory over Altmar-Parish-Williamstown.
For 80 minutes of regulation, the Bearcats could not get any shot past Rebels goalie Sydney Jones, who finished with 29 saves. Meanwhile Solvay netminder Haley Muehl had 11 saves and was rewarded in OT when Katie Harrington put a shot past Jones for the game-winner.
Another close game followed on Wednesday, but Solvay lost it, 2-1, to Phoenix, falling despite Maya Martineau’s unassisted goal. Muehl and Kiersten Scholl combined for 12 saves, but Phoenix’s Emilie Hilliard led her side, scoring one goal and assisting on the other, by Alexandra Hoag.
Jordan-Elbridge lost a 4-3 decision to Pulaski last Tuesday, not quite able to overcome a 3-1 halftime deficit despite Emily Somes notching a three-goal hat trick to account for all of the Eagles’ offense. Julie Hines and Alexis Braun earned assists as Mia Arms got 13 saves, but Pulaski had more diversity in its attack, Sam McNitt scoring twice as Mikayla Petrie and Jackie Booth earned the other goals.
In Thursday’s 7-1 defeat to Chittenango, J-E never recovered from the Bears streaking to a 4-0 halftime lead. Michaela Mills did score in the second half, with Somes earning the assist. Arms and Sophia Titus combined for 14 saves. Sarah Martin and Jessica Shepard led Chittenango with two goals apiece.
