CENTRAL NEW YORK – After reaching the Section III Class AA title game in 2022, the West Genesee boys soccer team has increased expectations this fall, but got off to a sluggish start.
The Wildcats and Watertown played to a 1-1 draw on Sept. 1. Logan Scott scored in the second half, assisted by Jake McMahon, but Kyle Daly converted for the Cyclones and it stayed even through 20 minutes of overtime, new goalie Boston Crandall recording seven saves.
A 2-1 defeat to Marcellus followed, and it left the Wildcats 0-1-1 going into league play, but it finally produced a win last Tuesday, ignoring the hot conditions to beat PSLA-Fowler 4-1.
Relentless pressure led to a late getaway, WG ultimately seeing four different players – Scott, Kyle Klaben, Nick Togias and James Mungro – put in goals, with Christian Long adding two assists and Mungro one assist.
Back in action Saturday to face East Syracuse Minoa, WG almost made a stirring comeback in the late stages, only to see it fall short in a 3-2 defeat to the Spartans.
Helped by two goals from Jackson Tedesco and another from Jeff Winans, ESM built a 3-0 advantage. Still, the Wildcats kept going and, in a two-minute stretch late in the second half, made up most of the ground.
McMahon scored to make it 3-1. Then Christian Ball converted to cut WG’s deficit to one, yet the visitors could not quite force overtime. Crandall finished with eight saves as Long and Nate Quirk earned assists on those late goals.
Westhill finds itself moving up to Class A for post-season purposes, but still among its rivals in the OHSL Liberty division during the regular season.
Getting started on Sept. 1 at Liverpool, Westhill ended up in a 0-0 draw in this Warrior duel, unable to get any of its eight shots past Liverpool goalie Jacob McQuatters.
Offense remained mostly elusive against Baldwinsville, but Westhill pulled it out 1-0, only having Charlie DeMore get three saves as Josh Dabbiero’s goal, assisted by Max Cowin, proved enough.
Then Westhill broke out in last Tuesday’s game against Homer, blanking the Trojans 8-0 with two goals apiece from Luke Infanti and Eric Holstein. Owen Etoll notched three assists, while Cowin and Hasan Altheblah each had one goal and one assist. Keegan Sexton and Calvin Petrone also had assists.
On Saturday afternoon at Tully, the Warriors got another shutout, 3-0, and Holstein led the way, scoring twice as Infanti got a pair of assists. Etoll and Althebah helped on the goals, too.
Solvay, a program that has long struggled in the shadow of its more successful neighbors and was just 4-11-1 a season agto just might be putting something together, at least based on its early results.
The Bearcats strong start on Aug. 31 when it defeated Bishop Ludden 3-2. Solvay was led by Arkadii Ososkalo, who scored twice and assisted on the other goal, by Sam Chipman.
Olexsandr Matyiuk twice picked up assists and each of Redd Long’s four saves proved important as Ludden lost despite goals by Avery Neville and Colden Sheen, with Jack Marvin and Blake Sheen getting assists.
Then Solvay prevailed again on Sept. 2, handling Cortland 5-1, this time with Ososkalo pulling off a three-goal hat trick, plus an assist. Matiyuk and Sam Chipman and Matyiuk had one goal apiece, Josh Chipman adding an assist.
Continuing to impress opponents, Solvay topped Oswego 4-2 last Tuesday night, with Josh Chipman getting a goal and assist and Sam Chipman joining Shahib Kassam in the goal-scoring column. Long finished with seven saves.
