Cazenovia’s pair of varsity soccer teams was not exempt from the fun and frivolity of Homecoming festivities at the high school.
In fact, the Lakers were a featured attraction, with the girls and boys teams both playing at home at the Sean Googin Sports Complex Friday night.
The more attractive game of the two pitted the Cazenovia girls against long-time powerhouse Westhill, the Lakers looking for a different result than the 3-1 defeat its male counterparts took to the Warriors 10 days earlier.
And it was different – in favor of Westhill, who proved that its no. 13 state Class B ranking was, at the very least, justified and perhaps a bit conservative as it rolled past Cazenovia 6-1.
Other than Julia Reff’s goal, assisted by Ava Gavitt, the Lakers mostly had to defend and found it quite difficult. Westhill twice took advantage of penalty kicks that Sophia Caron converted, with Caron adding a third goal in the late stages.
Erica Gangemi scored twice for the Warriors, with Emma Gorman earning the other goal. Cazenovia goalkeeper Tessa Hansknecht kept it from more, earning nine saves.
In the boys game that followed, Cazenovia met Jordan-Elbridge and rolled past the Eagles 5-1, ripping off all five of those goals in a first-half barrage.
Max Michael, with two goals, led the charge, with single goals going to Joe Spires, Bryan Roca and Eli Gifford. Five different players earned assists, including Brian Pezzi, Brody Coleman, Dan Millson, Mike Senehi and Gannon Houghton.
The lost to Westhill came at the end of an eventful week for the girls Lakers. In last Monday’s game at Oneida, the Lakers played the Indians to a 3-3 draw. Two of the goals came from Leigha Fostveit (her first multigoal effort in her varsity career), while Gavitt had the other goal.
Following this, the Lakers hosted Christian Brothers Academy last Wednesday night and were superb in all phases of the game during a 3-0 shutout of the Brothers.
Reff went to the forefront here, pouring in both of Cazenovia’s first two goals, each of them off feeds from Gavitt, who then notched the third and final goal off a feed from Fostveit.
Three nights before beating J-E, Cazenovia’s boys had gone to Homer and, hinting at what it would do against J-E, approached double digits in an 8-0 wipeout of the Trojans.
Best of all for the Lakers was the way that other players helped Spires, who had carried Cazenovia’s attack for much of its early-season run) , though Spires still had a part in half the scoring plays thanks to his two goals and two assists.
Roca, with a goal and two assists, led that group, with Michael getting one goal and one assist. Millson, Jacob Scherrer and Dylan Albicker also put home goals, with assists going to Coleman and Shaun Zampetti.
In this week’s action, Cazenovia’s girls would get another big test when state Class B no. 10-ranked Marcellus visited before a Thursday match with Altmar-Parish-Williamstown as the boys Lakers host CBA on Monday and Whitesboro on Friday, with a trip to Solvay in between.
