ONONDAGA COUNTY – The Westhill boys soccer team welcomed Christian Brothers Academy last Thursday and, in front of a large and loud home crowd, it turned into a classic, the Warriors pushing the Brothers to overtime before taking a 2-1 defeat.
Trailing 1-0 late in regulation, Westhill kept pressuring and, with less than a minute left, drew a CBA foul inside the 18-yard box that led to a penalty kick, which Emmet Starowicz converted.
However, the Brothers, who got 10 saves from goalie Finn Wheeler, was able to pull it out in OT, having seen Jack Griffith and Connor Morgia earn goals.
To its credit, the Warriors rebounded from this all-out effort by going to Cazenovia on Saturday and, in the first of two games against the state Class B no. 12-ranked Lakers in less than a week, prevailing by a score of 3-1.
The key was Westhill jumping out in front 2-0 by halftime. The Warriors’ three goals came from three different players – Jon Gratien, Owen Etoll and Dan Carkner – as Brady Manion picked up seven saves.
Elsewhere, West Genesee visited Baldwinsville last Tuesday night and kept things quiet for a while before a second-half barrage by the Bees’ Evan Smith left the Wildcats on the wrong end of a 3-0 defeat.
For more than a half the Wildcats kept B’ville scoreless, though none of its seven shots got past Bees goalie Emmett Bauer. Then, with 25 minutes left, Smith broke through with a goal, and he converted again on a header less than five minutes later before striking for a third time with 13:34 to play.
WG recovered from this to win 4-0 at Henninger on Thursday night, a breakthrough effort where Hayden Anderson’s pair of goals helped the Wildcats pull away after leading 1-0 at halftime. Chris Moser and Christian Long also had goals, with Tyler Wavercak and Tesahle Kelly each picking up pair of assists.
Bishop Ludden lost 1-0 last Monday to Manlius Pebble Hill in a tight game where Ludden, despite taking only three shots, kept it 0-0 until the second half, when Ayman El-Hindi scored for the Trojans off a feed from Dash Goode.
Jordan-Elbridge fell 7-0 to Chittenango last Tuesday night, with those same Bears then taking out Solvay 4-0 on Thursday despite a tremendous effort in goal by Jonathan Gonzalez Perez, who had 27 saves.
J-E then lost 6-2 to Phoenix on Thursday, unable to recover from a first half where the Firebirds sprinted to a 4-0 edge as Sean Stevens, Tyler D’arcy and Lincoln Kersey had two goals apiece.
