CENTRAL NEW YORK – Even with its undefeated mark at the midway point of the regular season, the West Genesee girls soccer team still had some respect to earn.
The first state Class AA rankings of the fall had the Wildcats at no. 15, a good mark, but still well back of the no. 7 spot held by reigning sectional champion Fayetteville-Manlius.
Assessing all of this, the best thing for WG to do was to keep on performing well – which it did late last week on two occasions.
To start with, the Wildcats put away Syracuse United 4-1 on Thursday, and it proved a showcase for Maddy Mango, who recorded the first hat trick of her varsity career.
Mango’s trio of goals subdued Syracuse, with help from a goal by Alyssa Winters as assists were credited to Maria Snyder and Ellie McMahon. Overall, WG had 19 shots, 15 of which were stopped by Myrna Riegelman.
Meeting Liverpool on Saturday afternoon, the Wildcats put together yet another fine all-around effort, subduing the Warriors in a 2-0 shutout.
Anna Nelson took her turn leading WG’s attack, scoring once and assisting on her team’s other goal, by Snyder. Marissa Closson got the assist on Nelson’s tally, and the defense held Liverpool to just three shots.
As for Bishop Ludden, it was a lot of respect given to the Gaelic Knights, its 6-0 start resulting in a no. 4 state Class D ranking, not far from possible playoff opponent Cincinnatus in the no. 2 spot.
In a season where there hasn’t been many close calls, the Gaelic Knights got one last Tuesday at Altmar-Parish-Williamstown, but did enough on both ends to hold off the Rebels 2-1.
APW went 6-1-1 in the first half of the regular season, and broke through with a first-half goal from Leslie Lewis. But Ludden answered it as, twice, Ashley Pawelczyk beat the Rebels’ defenders and put it past Emma Millerschin.
Having scored her 19th and 20th goals of the fall, Pawelczyk now joined the Gaelic Knights defenders to maintain that one-goal margin, and they did so, with each of Tatum Gilbertson’s five saves proving important.
A day earlier, Ludden made it seven wins in a row l when it beat Pulaski 5-0, taking 20 shots to the Blue Devil’s four.
Pawelczyk and Elizabeth Gaughan each scored twice. Sophia Chemotti had the other goal as she joined Pawelczyk and Jordyn Townes in the assist column.
Then Ludden rested until Saturday afternoon, when it breezed past Utica-Notre Dame 6-0 and Gaughan enjoyed her best varsity performance, earning a three-goal hat trick to go with an assist.
Pawelczyk often passed to Gaughan, earning three assists while also converting twice, the other goal going to Chemotti as Mary Detor also got an assist.
Jordan-Elbridge/Cato-Meridian only had one win this season – and could not double that total last Tuesday night, taking a 3-0 defeat to Fabius-Pompey.
Erin LaVancha did make eight saves for the Eagles, but the Falcons maintained the pressure and won thanks to goals by Marisa Trommel, McKenna Johnson and Rebekah Frazee.
