CENTRAL NEW YORK – Even as many other Section III boys soccer teams moved to different classes, Cazenovia did not, staying in the Class B ranks along with its OHSL Liberty division work.
Coming off last season’s 7-10 mark, the Lakers hoped for some better results starting with back-to-back road games against tough foes.
At Lowville on Sept. 1, Cazenovia kept things scoreless until the second half, but the Red Raiders won it 2-0 on second-half goals by Trey Smith and Peyton Matuszczak. The Lakers were held to four shots, all stopped by Isaiah Spence.
For its league opener last Tuesday night, Cazenovia visited Marcellus, a 2022 sectional Class B finalist, and with a splendid defensive performance was able to edge past the Mustangs 1-0.
Defense was needed since the Lakers spent long periods of time defending its own end against the relentless passing of the Marcellus attack.
Try as it could, though, the Mustangs could get nothing past Jack Casey, who recorded eight saves and whose effort was rewarded when Jaden Kaplan netted the game’s only goal.
Cazenovia fully expected this good work to carry over into Friday’s game against visiting Cortland in the opening round of a tournament in DeRuyter, but ran right into the Purple Tigers’ duo of Caden and Cal Albright, who was largely responsible for beating the Lakers 5-0.
Nothing the Lakers did stopped the Albright brothers, as Caden netted four goals and Cal assisted on hree of those tallies and getting the other goal himself. What was more, none of Cazenovia’s 11 shots would get past Cortland goalie Liam Burns.
In Saturday’s consolation game, Cazenovia bashed Groton 9-0 as Alex Dolly, with his three-goal hat trick, led a Cazenovia attack where Jack Coburn scored twice. Nat Gale had a goal and two assists, with Eli Royer getting one goal and one assist. Further illustrating the Lakers’ depth, Eliot Comeau and Chase Shepard each had two assists.
Chittenango had lost its season opener to Central Square on Aug. 30, but had more success at Cortland last Tuesday night, rolling to a 5-1 victory over the same Purple Tigers that would dominate Cazenovia later in the week.
It basically turned into a three-player show, the Bears seeing Gavin Karwoski earn a three-goal hat trick and Jake Wagner nab the other two goals and Ryan Thousand helped both of them with three assists. Cole Thomas also had an assist and, in goal, Logan Bronner earned eight saves.
A 2-1 loss to South Jefferson followed on Saturday. Thomas got a first-half goal for Chittenango but Teis Hegelund converted and assisted on James King’s goals before halftime, and the Spartans held on through the final 40 minutes.
