CENTRAL NEW YORK – Everyone in the area – and everyone in New York State – still chases the Skaneateles boys soccer team.
Spending a second week atop the state Class B rankings, the Lakers took on a vastly improved Mexico side last Tuesday and promptly jumped all over the Tigers in a 6-0 shutout.
Even though Mexico carried a 5-2 record into the game, Skaneateles sprinted to a 5-0 edge by halftime, seeing Owen Cheney pick up a three-goal hat trick.
Tylar Moss assisted on some of Cheney’s tallies and got three assists as he, along with Nick Cerimeli and Carter Corbett, earned single goals. Wyatt Langford and David Petercsak got one assist apiece.
Back in action Saturday against Bishop Kearney (Section V), Skaneateles this time took a while to get in top form, only leading by one at the break before making its big surge late to shut out the Kings 4-0.
Leading the way again, Moss and Cheney both picked up two goals and one assist. Assists were also credited to David Petercsak and Max Karpinski/
Marcellus only carried a 2-4-1 record into last Tuesday’s game with Cazenovia, but broke out in a big way on this night to prevail 4-1, scoring twice in each half to pull away after the Lakers got a first-half tally.
Skaneateles will, early this week, host the same Cazenovia side that Westhill was supposed to take on last Thursday after it claimed the no. 11 state Class B ranking, but that game got rained out.
And that was after the Warriors lost 2-0 to state Class A no. 18-ranked Christian Brothers Academy last Tuesday night, unable to get any of its nine shots past Brothers goalie Finn Wheeler.
For his part, Westhill goalie Brady Mannion had 11 saves, but CBA converted once in each half as Jack Griffith and Will Harrigan picked up the goals. Thursday’s game at Cazenovia got rained out.
West Genesee went up against undefeated, state Class AA no. 7-ranked Fayetteville-Manlius last Tuesday night and could not stop Nino Pagano took a 4-1 defeat to the Hornets.
Not until the second half did the Wildcats get on the board with Teshale Kelly’s goal, assisted by Tyler Wavercak. By then, though, Pagano had already scored twice, and the Syracuse University recruit tacked on two more late goals.
At Liverpool two nights later, WG got another goal from Waverchak, yet still lost 2-1 to the Warriors, who had Massimo Roja and Antonio Wilson convert.
This rough week for WG concluded Saturday with yet another 2-1 loss, this one to Nottingham. Down 1-0 at the half, the Wildcats got a goal from Jake McMahon, assisted by Wavercak, but Albert Thang and Ahmed Damir found the net to help the Bulldogs prevail.
Bishop Ludden got, arguably, its most important win of the season last Monday, when it went to Bishop Grimes and knocked off the Cobras 3-1.
With the annual “Bishops Cup’ on the line, the Gaelic Knights had some nervous moments early as Grimes, who was 0-6 and had not scored a goal in any of those six games, broke through with a first-half goal by Joel Fasama.
Ludden broke out of that 1-1 tie in the second half, ultimately seeing Sam Colella score twice as Charlie Colella got one goal and one assist. Colden Sheen also had an assist.
This didn’t carry over into Saturday’s action as Ludden lost, 3-0, to state Class C no. 7-ranked Fabius-Pompey, who got all of its goals from Ryan Heselden – two in the first half, another in the second half. Joe McGarvey made five saves for the Gaelic Knights, who fell to 2-4-1.
Solvay absorbed a 4-0 defeat to Chittenango last Tuesday night as Jonathan Gonzalez made 21 saves. Elia Bonelli earned two of the Bears’ four goals. Jordan-Elbridge lost 5-0 to Phoenix that same night.
On Thursday, Solvay did get on the board in a 6-2 loss to Mexico as Sam Gonzalez and Walid Sharaf got goals, Josh Chipman assisting on both of them.
