Inside and outside of league play, the West Genesee girls soccer team continued its strong work through the midway point of its regular season.
Against a Liverpool side it had a difficult time defeating in recent years, the Wildcats put together a 1-0 win over the Warriors last Tuesday night.
This was the “More Than a Game” event at Wildcat Soccer Stadium, raising funds for the Upstate Cancer Center at Golisano Children’s Hospital. Each team wore special jerseys – pink for WG, white for Liverpool.
Katie McManus earned an unassisted goal in the first half, and the Wildcats had plenty of other chances, too, only to get turned away as Liverpool goalie Megan Merrifield made 12 saves.
This meant that WG’s defense had to spend a long time protecting a slim lead – but it did so, limiting the Warriors to seven shots, all stopped by Caitlin Mills.
Things turned around Thursday, when the Wildcats lost, 2-0, to Fayetteville-Manlius. Despite Mills’ 11 saves, WG could not keep the Hornets’ Anna Hartzheim and Hannah Knych from scoring goals and assisting on each other’s scoring plays.
On Saturday, in a non-league game against New Hartford, WG faced some more stress, finding itself in overtime but getting the late goal it needed to edge the Spartans 2-1.
Sarah Petrus scored in the first half, a goal matched by New Hartford’s Natalie Burns. They would stay 1-1 through the rest of regulation and the first of the mandatory 10-minute OT periods.
With one minute left in the second OT and WG on the doorstep, the Spartans committed a foul inside the 18-yard box, giving the Wildcats a penalty kick. Petrus took it and beat Abby Buchholz for what proved to be the game-winner as WG improved to 8-2 overall.
Solvay faced the Onondaga team that former Westhill coach Lisa Eipp took over earlier this summer, and the Bearcats earned a tough 1-0 victory over the Tigers on Taylor Clisson’s goal, with Haley Muehl earning 25 saves for the shutout.
Then the Bearcats lost 3-0 to CBA on Wednesday night despite another 25-save performance from Muehl as Mari Saya netted two of the Brothers’ three goals.
All of this led to Friday’s 3-1 overtime defeat to Cazenovia.Amid wind-swept conditions, Emily Reiff converted late in the first half, giving the Lakers a 1-0 edge, but Solvay got even with a goal from Lanaya Willis, assisted by Dee Dee McGriff.
They stayed 1-1 through the rest of regulation, but three minutes into the first of the two mandatory 10-minute OT period Maddy Gavitt, broke free and put in the go-ahead goal for the Lakers. Reiff added a second goal with 2:30 left in the second OT to thwart any possible Bearcats comeback.
Bishop Ludden, who had lost 1-0 to Syracuse on Sept. 15, had a 1-1 draw with LaFayette two days later and then fell 2-0 to Tully on Wednesday afternoon, Emma Byrne getting both of the Black Knights’ goals in the second half to overcome Sarah Boyea’s 15 saves for the Gaelic Knights.
Jordan-Elbridge fell 1-0 to Altmar-Paish-Williamstown, Eagles goalie Sophia Titus making 12 saves and only surrendering Kaliyah Scott’s goal that won it for the Rebels. The Eagles then lost 10-0 to Skaneateles on Thursday.
