CENTRAL NEW YORK – Fresh off yet another Section III Class B championship game appearance, the Cazenovia boys soccer team was determined to go all the way in 2022.
But in its first game of the season, the Lakers found out just how long a trek it may have to take, traveling to Marcellus on Sept. 2 and getting overwhelmed in a 7-1 defeat to the Mustangs.
J.D. Dolly did get a goal, but otherwise it was all Marcellus. the Mustangs’ Ryan Constable torched Cazenovia’s defense, finishing his day with a career-best four goals and adding an assist.
Bob Moses helped, too, converting twice, while Landon Kelly had the other goal. Their constant pressure forced Lakers goalies Connor Frisbee and Alex Coburn to make 21 saves between them.
Even more troubling was last Tuesday’s 11-3 defeat to Rome Free Academy, where the Lakers scored all of its goals in the second half – but only after the Black Knights jumped out 5-0 and kept adding to the margin late thanks to eight different goal-scorers. Only Colin Gannon and Alex Rizzo scored twice for RFA.
Cazenovia began to turn it around in the DeRuyter Blast-Off TOurnament, with Dolly carrying the Lakers past Marathon (Section IV) 3-2 in the opening round.
Dolly netted each of Cazenovia’s three goals, with assists going to Jaden Kaplan and Dan Raymond. Each of Coburn’s seven saves would prove important.
The final, against host DeRuyter on Saturday, was all Lakers, a 6-2 romp where Dolly kept on converting on his way to tournament MVP honors.
While all this was going on, Chittenango had already played in its own tournament, rolling in the opening round 6-0 over Cortland, but absorbing a 2-1 defeat to South Jefferson in the Sept. 1 finals.
Then, facing Solvay last Tuesday night, the Bears fell behind again 2-1 at halftime, but led by Gavin Karowski and Cole Thomas, it stormed back to beat the Bearcats 6-3.
Karowski’s three-goal hat trick was a key part of that late surge, with Thomas converting twice and Lawson Pagorek also finding the net. Also, Pagorek had two assists, with single assists going to Jacob Scheidelman, Landon Touchette and Jackson Blaszkow as Sam Chapman netted all three of Solvay’s goals.
Later in the week, Chittenango took on Class D contender Hamilton in the opening round of the Mount Markham Optimist Tournament and, in a back-and-forth affair, was able to defeat the Emerald Knights 3-2.
Tied 1-1 at halftime, the Bears converted twice in the second half to get in front, Scheidelman finishing with a pair of goals as Jake Wagner earned an assist. Each of Logan Bronner’s nine saves would prove important.
