As the weeks pass, the close calls for the Bishop Ludden boys soccer team continue to mount, though again no one has beaten them yet.
With the no. 5 spot in the state Class C rankings, the Gaelic Knights hosted Fabius-Pompey last Tuesday night and could not get on the board against the Falcons, but did enough on defense to escape with a 0-0 draw.
The flow of play was relatively even through 80 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime. Ludden had lots of chances, but did not get any of its eight shots past F-P goalie Jack Klawitter, and the same held true for the Falcons, who saw all nine shots gobbled up by Peter Lockwood.
Ludden got back into the win column Thursday when it beat Blessed Virgin Mary 3-1, but even this game proved nervous as Jeff Koulik’s goal gave the Saints a 1-1 tie at halftime before the Gaelic Knights got away in the late going.
Lucas Scutari led that charge, putting in two of Ludden’s three goals. Eric Emmons had the other, with Liam Katko notching a pair of assists and Justin Eisenhauer gaining a single assist. Lockwood only had to make eight saves.
Now at 10-0-1 overall, the Gaelic Knights get three games this week against Faith Heritage, Cato-Meridian and Watertown IHC.
West Genesee had shown plenty of improvement early this season, even if its record didn’t reflect that reality. That was the case again in last Monday’s game at the Gillette Road complex, where the Wildcats showed lots of heart, but the result was still a 1-0 defeat by the same thing margin as their 2-1 encounter on Sept. 6 in Camillus.
Having gone through its own early-season struggles, C-NS, the defending sectional Class AA champions, had to get nervous after a first half of continual chances did not result in a goal.
WG’s David Wenner was sensational, finishing the night with 16 saves. But his Wildcat teammates rarely relieved the pressure, producing just five shots, and C-NS did break through in the second half on Jason Hange’s unassisted tally.’
In Thursday’s game against Nottingham, the Wildcats went for that breakthrough, playing the Bulldogs to a scoreless draw until Joey Francisco scored early in the second half off a feed from Manny Castro.
Despite that, and despite Castro’s own late goal, WG still lost, 3-2, to Nottingham, who answered Francisco’s tally with a flurry of scoring plays with Juma Hussein as the focal point, Hussein finding the net twice and also assisting on Hassan Aden’s goal to overcome another 16-save effort from Wenner.
Jordan-Elbridge prevailed, 2-1, over Cato-Meridian last Tuesday afternoon, notching the only goal of the first half and then matching a late tally by the Blue Devils’ Jacob Alberts to hang on. Mason Barrigar and Loreen Barrigar earned those goals, with Matt Frost adding an assist. Max Bondgren only had to make three saves.
Now the Eagles looked to improve on its 3-6 mark against Chittenango on Thursday night, but took a 3-0 defeat to the Bears, who saw Keoni Saturnio, Seth Spurgeon and Zach Jasmin net goals as Bondgren, in defeat, recorded 10 saves.
Solvay won a 3-1 non-league game over Faith Heritage last Wednesday afternoon at the CNY Family Sports Centre, scoring twice in the first half to get all the offense it needed. Mike Tomoroska had one goal and one assist, with Jordan Devereaux adding a goal as Nazar Trut, Nate Kosecki and Shahab Obadi picked up assists.
Barely 24 hours later, though, Solvay had to take on Marcellus, where it played superb defense most of the night, but still lost, 1-0, to the Mustangs.
All through the second half, any Marcellus attempt got turned away, Joe Guadagnolo working his total to six saves. Yet his teammates couldn’t help out on the other end, held to three shots, so Nate Kellar’s first-half goal, assisted by David Bosak, would hold up.
Earlier in the week, Solvay put a scare into state Class B no. 20-ranked Cazenovia at the Sean Googin Sports Complex before things fell apart late in a 3-0 defeat to the Lakers.
They were 0-0 deep into the second half, Solvay relying on its defense to constantly break up Cazenovia’s runs. In fact, Guadagnolo only had four saves on the ledger as both sides were affected by high winds that made it difficult to control the ball through the air.
Guadganolo was put to the test, though, when a Solvay foul inside the 18-yard box led to a penalty kick with 13 minutes left. Burke Regan put the shot past Guadagnolo and, two minutes later, Geoff Christensen made it 2-0. Sean McNerney tacked on another goal with four minutes to play.
