If, once again, the fate of Section III Class B boys soccer is determined by Skaneateles and Westhill, at least the Lakers have the knowledge that, if things break right, it can dethrone the defending champions.
The only regular-season meeting between these two powers took place last Tuesday night as the state Class B no. 14-ranked Lakers saw its six-game win streak snapped in a 1-0 defeat to the state no. 5-ranked Warriors.
Prior to going to Westhill, Skaneateles had not only won six straight, it hadn’t allowed a goal in any of those games, a tribute to the work of back-line players like Tom Reed, Padders Moore and Sam McClintic, helped by Max Moss and Jon Metz.
This shutout streak, which had lasted through approximately 500 minutes of game action, ended when the Warriors’ Jack Grooms scored in the first half, assisted by Bo BenYehuda.
That was all Skaneateles would surrender, though, its defense again quite sound as Luke Peterson only had to make nine saves. But with ample time to equalize, the Lakers could not do so since Westhill’s defense was strong, too, limiting the visitors to seven shots, all stopped by John Geer.
Even with this result, Skaneateles wasn’t too discouraged, for it returned home and made a strong showing at its own mid-season tournament, the Finger Lakes Cup.
It began with last Friday’s opening-round game against St. Francis (Buffalo), which the Lakers won 4-0 with another strong defensive effort but, more importantly, showed it could score in spurts when it was needed.
A first-half goal by Thomas Reed in the 16th minute produced a lead, but nothing comfortable. Then Tylar Moss converted five minutes into the second half and, before St. Francis could recover, Sam Gadjo converted less than 60 seconds later.
Another goal followed from Metz, and the Skaneateles was safe, having seen Gabe Konieczny pick up a pair of assists and Reed get an assist, too, all setting up a final Saturday afternoon against another Buffalo-area side, Canisius, who beat Henninger 2-1 in the other opening-round contest.
It proved close, just like it did with Westhill, but here Canisius prevailed 1-0, the Crusaders getting the game’s only goal on a free kick Peterson had no chance to stop. Henninger topped St. Francis 3-1 in the consolation game.
Now the Lakers could look ahead to another pair of big games this week, taking on Cazenovia Tuesday and having a rematch with Marcellus Thursday night less than two weeks after beating the Mustangs 2-0 on Sept. 16.
