ONONDAGA COUNTY – Perhaps not before in their shared histories have the West Genesee girls and boys soccer teams both found themselves on the brink of glory at the same time.
Next Tuesday night, both sets of Wildcats find themselves a mere 80 minutes (or more) away from Section III Class AA championships, having got there in unique manners.
At home in Camillus, WG’s girls got off to the best possible start in Wednesday’s sectional semifinal against Liverpool, then closed strong with surprising contributions in a 4-1 victory over the Warriors.
Over at Christian Brothers Academy’s Alibrandi Stadium, the boys Wildcats waited until the second half to make its decisive move against Utica Proctor, ultimately beating the Raiders 2-1.
With only six teams in the girls sectional AA bracket, WG, as the top seed with a 10-4-2 record, had a bye straight into the semifinals.
Thus, it had not played in 11 days and was well-rested when Liverpool, who ousted Rome Free Academy 2-0, arrived for the semifinal, the Warriors having split two regular-season meetings with the Wildcats.
A long break can often lead to uneven play when a team is on the field again. Not here, though, as in less than three minutes the Wildcats were up 1-0 thanks to a goal by Sophia Snyder.
Maintaining this momentum, WG doubled the margin four minutes later when sophomore Tori Hulbert netted her first varsity goal.
Liverpool used a goal by Jailyn Parrotte to cut the margin to 2-1 by halftime, and deep into the second half it remained that way before WG closed strong.
Midway through the half, Scout Oudemool put one past Warriors goalie Emily Rath, and it was clinched when Maddy Mango converted with less than two minutes to play.
Like Hulbert, Oudemool and Mango had netted their first goals of the season. Snyder, Gio Vigliotti and Ellie McMahon each had one assist as, between them, Julia Poissant and Jenna Orr stopped 11 of Liverpool’s 12 shots.
The final next Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Chittenango High School pits WG against defending champion Fayetteville-Manlius, who beat Cicero-North Syracuse 2-1 in the other semifinal on a pair of early goals by Morgan Goodman.
Ironically, WG’s boys will meet C-NS in its sectional final at Phoenix. Back in the semifinal round, all the Northstars did was stun top seed F-M 1-0 in double overtime on a direct kick from goalie Wyatt Dupell that found the net.
Having seen this, the no. 6 seed Wildcats, who had already knocked off no. 3 seed Liverpool, now took aim at Utica Proctor, the no. 2 seed, in what proved to be a tense semifinal battle.
Both sides were strong on defense during a scoreless first half, WG leaning on Chris Moser, Kyle Klaben, Anthony Edgar and its back line to match the physicality of the Raiders.
Then, after Proctor got on the board in the second half, the Wildcats offered a strong response.
Twice, Christian Long’s deft passes found open teammates, both of them leading to goals as Tyler Wavercak and Anthony Pontello managed to convert.
With the Wildcats able to preserve that slim lead, it could now concentrate on C-NS, having not netted a goal againt the Northstars in either of their regular-season meetings – a 0-0 tie on Sept. 22 and a 2-0 loss on Oct. 15.
