CENTRAL NEW YORK – As expected, the Westhill boys soccer team gained respect for its 3-0-1 start by earning the no. 5 spot in the first state Class A rankings of the season.
What was far less expected, though, was seeing Solvay continue to conquer opponents who had long treated the Bearcats as something close to an easy mark.
Cazenovia joined this list when Solvay beat them 2-0 last Tuesday at Al Merola Field, basing its victory on a defense that limited the visiting Lakers to just five shots, all stopped by Redd Long.
Thus, goals by Ole Matyiuk and Arkadii Ososskalo held up, and the Bearcats were 4-0 going into a true measuring-stick game Thursday night at reigning state Class B champion Skaneateles.
And what Solvay found was that it wasn’t as far away as before, the game going all 80 minutes before the Lakers were able to inch past the Bearcats 2-1.
Thang Paul’s goal, assisted by Matyiuk, had Solvay in position, and its defense resisted a multitude of Skaenateles opportunities, Long able to finish with 12 saves.
Still, Skaneateles kept pressing and, with goals from David Petercsak and Sam Ryan, got out in front, Andrew Petercsak able to earn an assist.
Continuing to test itself on Saturday, Skaneateles met Class AA’s Christian Brothers Academy at Hyatt Stadium and it proved tense all thew ay to the end, but the Lakers lost 3-2 to the Brothers.
They had tied in their lone 2022 meeting, CBA’s only regular-season blemish. Here, they were on even terms in the second half, too, but only after the Brothers inched ahead 1-0 early, ultimately carried to victory by Zack Walma, who had all three goals for a hat trick, two of them unassisted.
As for Westhill, it had little trouble last Tuesday in a 5-0 victory over Cortland, taking 18 shots and finding constant success against an overwhelmed Purple Tigers defense.
No one did more than Eric Holstein, who burned Cortland for a three-goal hat trick and added an assist, most of it in the first half as the Warriors built a 4-0 edge. Owen Etoll and Josh Gratien also scored, with Luke Infanti getting two assists.
Another 5-0 win followed on Thursday, this time over Mexico as, this time around, the Warriors made sure the production was spread around during its sixth shutout in a row.
Etoll converted twice, with Holstein getting one goal and one assist. Infanti dished out two assists as Gratien and Cameron Gillis also put in goals.
Marcellus had got off to a rough start in 2023, but had little trouble in last Thursday’s game against Phoenix, routing the Firebirds 7-0.
Austin Raicht, with a goal and three assists, anchored a well-balanced Mustangs attack that saw only Mathias Ferrara able to score twice. Liam Lundrigan had a goal and two assists, joined in the goal-scoring column by Ryan Welch, Rajeh Makhlouf and Ethan Hubbard.
