What’s at stake for the Jamesville-DeWitt girls soccer team starting this week – namely, its eight-year reign as Section III Class A champions – made it important for the Red Rams to take care of each step leading up to the sectional tournament.
Having avenged an earlier defeat to Fulton on Oct. 5, the state Class A no. 4-rankedRed Rams next faced a challenge from 8-5-1 Cortland, who made things quite tough before J-D pulled out a 1-0 decision.
Chances were difficult to attain in the wet conditions, and the first half ended 0-0. Still, the Rams stayed patient and, in the second half, got all that it needed when Grace Dimkopoulos put a shot past Purple Tigers goalie Marissa Gilmore.
That was J-D’s sixth win in a row and 12th shutout of the fall, and it looked for more Thursday against Syracuse in the regular-season finale and got it in the form of double digits during a 10-0 victory.
Sydney Baker notched a three-goal hat trick for the Rams, who also got two goals apiece from Lainey Foti and Emma Silverstein.
Dimkopoulos got two assists, with Ailish McDevitt adding one goal and one assist. Ava Brazie and Anastasia Parks put in goals as assists went to Grace Martin, Tonia Kousmanidis, Grace Bridge and Sophia Foti.
Breaking out in a big way last Tuesday night, East Syracuse Minoa went to Oswego and nearly got to double digits in a 9-0 romp over the Buccaneers.
Six of those tallies came after halftime, with Mallory Ott leading the charge for the Spartans as she scored four times. Franchesca Polcaro had two goals and one assist, with Kat Boland getting two assists. Lauren Ott, Julia Carauna and Maria Market had one goal apiece as Anna Markert picked up one assist.
Closing the regular season Friday against Fulton, ESM took a 2-1 overtime defeat to the Red Raiders.
They were 0-0 until the second half, when Polcaro, off a feed from Mallory Ott, scored for the Spartans, only to have Jordan Coulon match it for Fulton and then score again in the first OT period. ESM was constantly frustrated by Red Raiders goalie Maddie Lang, who had 12 saves, twice Alana Day’s total.
Christian Brothers Academy visited Altmar-Parish-Williamstown last Tuesday afternoon and put together a 3-0 shutout of the Rebels, getting away in the second half.
Overcoming 31 saves from Rebels goalie Sydney Jones, the Brothers saw Bailey Wolanski, Amanda Winn and Kennedy Paciga earn goals, with Grace Hulslander and Tate Kohlbrenner getting one assist apiece.
But things got a lot tougher on Wednesday as CBA had to face state Class B no. 4-ranked Westhill, who proved far too tough as it beat the Brothers 5-0. ‘
During a first-half scoring blitz, the Warriors took charge as Sophia Caron, with two goals and one assist, led that push. Lauren Holstein, Ciarra Rudnick and Lauren Marshall also had goals, overcoming six saves by Catherine Burns.
On Thursday night, CBA fought past Central Valley Academy 1-0, with Winn’s goal the difference as Mari Saya got credit for the assist. The Thunder only got one direct shot on the Brothers all game as CBA improved to 12-4 overall.
J-D, as the top seed in the sectional Class A playoffs, will meet Whitesboro or Carthage in the quarterfinals, with no. 3 seed ESM and no. 6 seed CBA facing each other in the quarterfinals Thursday night at 5 p.m. at Spartan Stadium.
Even with a recent run of strong play, Manlius-Pebble Hill got jolted last Tuesday afternoon when Tully paid a visit and had its way during a 7-0 shutout of the Trojans.
Nothing worked for MPH against a swarming Black Knights attack. Liza Bruno made 11 saves, but Jessica Donald led Tully with a three-goal hat trick, adding an assist as Alexi Hamilton got two goals and two assists.
Another defeat followed on Thursday, this time MPH falling to Onondaga 2-1 in overtime. Bianca Melendez-Martineau scored in the second half, assisted by Maggie Sexton-Dwyer, but the Tigers matched it and then got the lone goal in the 20 minutes of OT as Neo Nyoni and Alyssa Myer scored for OCS.
The skid ended Saturday with MPH’s 2-0 shutout of Solvay, with Rachel Comfort notching one goal and assisting on the other, by Melendez-Martineau. None of the Bearcats’ four shots got past Bruno.
Bishop Grimes won on Thursday, edging Pulaski by that same 2-1 margin with a second-half comeback. Down 1-0 at the break due to Emily Delaney’s goal, the Cobras saw Julia Gnade and Laura Marial score as Rhonee Shea Pal and Katherine Murphy picked up assists.
Given the no. 15 seed in the sectional Class C tournament, Grimes would try and toppled 14-1-1 no. 2 seed Tully in the first round as MPH, with the no. 3 seed in Class D, welcomes no. 14 seed Madison in its opening-round game.
