CENTRAL NEW YORK – Whether it’s among the largest or the smallest schools, girls soccer teams at West Genesee and Bishop Ludden are both poised to make serious pushes for Section III championships.
The Wildcats do so as the top seed in a Class AA bracket where very little separates the top teams, given all that gone on in a regular season where, with its own strong finish, WG built up serious momentum for the post-season.
After the SCAC Metro division regular-season title, state Class AA no. 29-ranked WG took a step toward it last Tuesday when it beat Baldwinsville 2-1 just as first-place Fayetteville-Manlius was taking an overtime defeat to Liverpool.
It took goals by Anna Nelson and Marissa Closson for the Wildcats to build a 2-0 advantage, one that could withstand Audra Salvagno’s tally with eight minutes left that got B’ville on the board.
Julia Poissant and Jenna Orr combined for seven saves, one more than the total the Bees’ Carlie Young had playing the entire game in the net.
Even bigger, though, was what WG would do Friday, venturing to Bragman Stadium and, combining strong defense with patience on the other end, knocking off Cicero-North Syracuse 1-0.
Having tied the Wildcats 1-1 when they met two weeks earlier in Camillus, the Northstars this time was kept off the board, seeing 11 shots stopped by Orr and Julia Poissant.
For the most part, the Northstars were tough on defense, too, but Eva Poissant’s goal, assisted by Scout Oudemool, got WG in front, and it would stay there the rest of the way.
And there wasn’t a letdown on Saturday when WG defeated Whitesboro in another 1-0 decision, the lone goal coming in the second half when Eva Poissant converted, again with Oudemool assisting. Emma Trapasso made three saves paring up in goal with Orr, who had four saves.
As for Bishop Ludden, no. 3 in the state Class D rankings, it entered the final week of the regular season at 12-1 and improved on that mark last Tuesday with a 3-1 win over Faith Heritage.
Gaining a 2-0 edge by halftime, the Gaelic Knights got single goals from Faith Griffin, Ashley Pawelczyk and Grace Olivia, with Sophia Chemotti joining Griffin in the assist column.
Then, up against Syracuse City on Wednesday night, Ludden was shut down in a 2-0 loss, unable to get any of its eight shots past Syracuse goalie Desaree Gaston. Lucy Kerbis and Belvia Kondoji scored for Syracuse, overcoming nine saves by Gaelic Knights goalie Julia Smith.
Ludden lost again, 2-1, to Class AA’s Baldwinsville on Friday night, converting in the first half but seeing the Bees move in front in the latter stages as Maddie Simons and Nadia Guzman scored for B’ville.
Despite those late defeats, Ludden earned the no. 2 seed in the sectional Class D bracket, and will play Thursday in a quarterfinal against the winner of an opening-round game between no. 7 seed Hamilton and no. 10 seed Oteslic Valley.
Jordan-Elbridge got, by far, its biggest win of the season last Tuesday against 10-3-1 Tully, able to pick up a wild 4-3 victory over the Black Knights in no small part due to Erin LaVancha recording 15 saves.
Avery Yard earned a pair of goals, with Ella Jewsbury and Riley Hill both converting, too. That overcame two goals from Tully’s Gloria Flatt and another from Alexa Shay.
J-E will take a no. 9 seed into the sectional Class C playoffs and meet no. 8 seed Cooperstown in the opening round, the winner likely to deal with top seed Watertown IHC in the quarterfinals.
