For the second time in September, the West Genesee girls soccer team took its shot at Baldwinsville, and unlike every other Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division foe this fall, the Wildcats caught them.
WG rallied to force overtime and finished with a 2-2 draw, ending a streak where the Bees had won eight in a row, one of them a 3-0 shutout of the Wildcats two weeks earlier at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium.
This rematch in Camillus came two days after B’ville used a last-minute goal in the second OT to edge Fayetteville-Manlius 3-2. And the same situation presented itself here, but with a different outcome.
Simone Neivel, off a feed from Kelsey Delola, pushed the Bees in front midway through the first half, only to have WG tie it less than two minutes before intermission.
The second half saw Delola get a second assist on a Sophia Cavallaro goal early, and it stayed 2-1 until, with 3:38 left, the Wildcats got even again, having seen Mia Sveen and Chrissy Van Allen convert those late goals.
In 20 minutes of overtime, neither side could land a game-winner. B’ville took more shots, but the combined efforts of Caitlin Mills and Liz Croft produced 14 saves.
After a 7-0 start and reaching no. 2 in the state Class B rankings, Marcellus had to endure plenty of turbulence.
First, the Mustangs got overwhelmed in a 4-0 defeat to no. 6-ranked Clinton on Sept. 22. Then, two nights later, Marcellus (now at no. 3 in those rankings) went to Chittenango and could only manage a 1-1 draw with the Bears.
They were 0-0 until a second-half exchange where Anna Vetsch converted for the Mustangs and Madison Wagner, off a feed from Sarah Martin, scored for Chittenango.
No one could break that tie through the rest of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime. For that, the Bears could thank goalie Ava Dardaris, who stopped 20 of the 21 Marcellus shots she faced. Marcellus goalie Kendall Koloski had 10 saves.
Marcellus rebounded on Wednesday to defeat Phoenix 2-0, Vetsch and Alaura Cushman putting up goals as Lily Locastro and Katy Wangsness got credit for assists. Earning the shutout, the Mustangs held the Firebirds to just five shots.
Yet on Saturday Marcellus lost again, falling 1-0 at Carthage. The long trip north proved frustrating as each of the Mustangs’ seven shots got stopped by Comets goalie Kiannah Ward and Makayla Shaw scored in the second half.
Westhill will clash with Marcellus this Friday night and was beginning to round into form, as it showed last Monday against Jordan-Elbridge as it had a season-best six goals in the first half on the way to routing the Eagles 9-0.
Julia Lasher, Lauren Holstein and Maya Woolen each got two assists, anchoring an effort where Erica Gangemi and Alice Mahoney both scored twice. Single goals went to Sophia Caron, Ashley Bolesh and Quinn Mannion. J-E goalie Gabriella Bard had 15 saves.
It was much the same Wednesday at Hannibal, Westhill getting to double digits in a 10-1 romp as Caron and Gangemi each scored twice, Caron adding two assists as single goals went to Mannion, Lasher, Grace McMahon, Keegan Taber, Rylie Taber and Brooke Zollo, with Zollo joining Holstein and Bolesh in the assist column.
In a neighborhood match on Saturday, Westhill routed Bishop Ludden 6-0, with Zollo and Ciarra Rudnick netting two goals apiece as Gangemi and Lasher also converted. Olivia Bolesh got two assists, helped by Caron and Holstein with single assists.
Ludden had taken a 1-0 overtime defeat to Utica-Notre Dame last Tuesday afternoon, the Gaelic Knights unable to put any of its 14 shots past Jugglers goalie Emily Hawes as Emily Sehring’s OT goal made the difference.
Then, on Thursday, Ludden lost again 1-0, this time to Fabius-Pompey, who controlled the game’s tempo, limiting the Gaelic Knights to a single shot on net. Sarah Boyea made 13 saves to keep things close.
Solvay played last Tuesday and took a 2-1 defeat to Homer. Taylor Clisson had the Bearcats’ lone goal and Haley Muehl had 13 saves, but the Trojans leaned on goals by Maddy Cole and Kaelyn Tallman to prevail.
On Thursday, Solvay did find the win column, blanking Altmar-Parish-Williamstown 1-0 as Carly Devereaux’s goal, assisted by Natalia Pena, proved enough. Rebels goalie Allie Lenhart stopped 16 of 17 shots she faced.
J-E lost 7-0 to Mexico last Wednesday, with the Tigers getting three goals from Grace O’Gorman to lead that side. Bard finished the day with 24 saves as the Eagles dropped a 4-0 decision to Onondaga later in the week.
