It took nearly 12 months, but the West Genesee boys soccer team got some payback for the defeat it took to Baldwinsville in last year’s Section III Class AA semifinal.
With a superb defensive effort in last Tuesday’s game at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium, the Wildcats knocked off the Bees 1-0, a result that, while surprising on the surface, wasn’t a shock to the participants.
When these same two teams had met 18 days earlier at Mike Messere Field, WG had pushed B’ville into overtime, and while it lost, 2-1, it also discovered how well it matched up with the Bees and that it could shut them down.
The rematch bore this out, as on defense the Wildcats frustrated B’ville throughout the contest, with the trio of Ethan Desko, Joe MacDonald and Brandon Scott doing most of the back-line work, assisted by Brendon Patrick.
Working just as hard, midfielders Ben Paoli, Jadin Lyle, Casey Scharoun and Jack Dalgety also had strong performances, and protected the lead earned with 13 minutes left in regulation when Josh Rimauldo scored off a feed from Justin Byrne.
Josh Farrell worked the first half in goal and Alex Toumbacaris took over in the second half. Combined, they made two saves, and the defenders kept their poise even as the Bees went all-out to even the game in the homestretch.
Skaneateles picked up a game against undefeated East Syracuse Minoa last Thursday when the Spartans had its home game with Jamesville-DeWitt pushed back to November.
Whether it was the short notice, or the quality of the opponent, the Lakers struggled in a 6-3 defeat largely defined by the five unanswered goals scored by the Spartans in the first half.
Faced with that massive deficit, Skaneateles did improve in the late going as Landon Hellwig, Andrew Neumann and Ryan Willard put in goals, Cooper Purdy adding an assist. Three Laker goalies – Marcus McClanahan, Cole Kennedy and Parker Glowacki – combined for 16 saves.
What followed, on Saturday, was another battle between rivals Skaneateles and Marcellujs and, again, the Lakers got the best of it, hanging on for a 2-1 victory.
It was a 1-0 shutout when they met seven days earlier, and in the second encounter the Mustangs got on the board, but still could not match goals from Hellwig and Ben Clymer.
Bishop Ludden had only played one regular-season game before taking on Tully last Tuesday, and the eagerness to resume was evident in the Gaelic Knights’ 3-1 win over the Black Knights.
Michael Gaughan led Ludden’s attack, twice finding the net and assisting on Sam Colella’s goal. Charlie Colella assisted on one of Gaughan’s tallies as Patrick Kieran scored for Tully.
Clearly the long wait to get on the field did not affect the quality of play for Ludden, as further demonstrated by Thursday night’s 5-0 shutout over Syracuse Academy of Science.
What was a close contest got away when the Gaelic Knights, up 1-0 at intermission, started to find the net with regularity in the last 40 minutes, especially Gaughan, who put together a three-goal hat trick.
Charlie Colella notched a pair of assists to go with his lone goal, with Sam Colella also converting and Tim Jiang picking up an assist.
On Saturday, Ludden handled Canastota 4-1, pulling away in the second half again thanks to Gaughan’s pair of goals, plus Charlie Colella getting one goal and one assist. Sam Collela scored, too, as Roberto Scutari earned an assist.
Westhill was supposed to face Marcellus last Monday, but that game got moved to Nov. 2 as it would visit Skaneateles Monday before facing Ludden a night later.
