CENTRAL NEW YORK – It turned out that the Chittenango boys soccer team’s 2-1 win over Cazenovia on Sept. 29 had a short-term effect on both sides, at least judging by early-October results.
Feeding off the momentum of the win over Cazenovia, Chittenango met Mexico last Tuesday night and Gavin Karwoski took over in a 4-0 victory over the Tigers.
It was only 1-0 at halftime due to a Karwoski goal, but in the last 40 minutes Karwoski would not only convert twice more for his hat trick, he added a fourth goal to complete his memorable evening.
Twice, Matt Byrne assisted on Karowski’s goals, with single assists earned by Jake Wagner and Landon Touchette.
Having climbed above the .500 mark (6-5), Chittenango now challenged state Class AA no. 4-ranked Christian Brothers Academy, only to get humbled in a 4-0 defeat to the Brothers.
Keeping it close for a while, the Bears only trailed 1-0 at halftime, but despite 17 saves from Bronner, Chittenango saw CBA forward Connor Morgia take over, netting two goals and assisting on the other two, by Juliuz Pichardo-Kemp and Rico Petrosillo.
As for Cazenovia, it took on Holland Patent last Tuesday night and, despite finding some success on offense, still took a 3-2 defeat to the Golden Knights.
Those three HP goals came from three different players – Michael Murray, Ethan Paladino and Jacob Olearczyk. That, along with seven saves from Andrew Stanley, negated what Cazenovia had produced on the other end.
Now back home to face Tully on Thursday night, the Lakers were desperate to break what had turned into a four-game skid, but only partially did so.
Over 80 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime, Cazenovia earned a shutout – but so did the Black Knights, the game ending 0-0 as Jack Casey stopped all nine shots he faced, topped by 11 saves from Tully goalie Oscar Breitzka.
Cazenovia welcomed state Class B no. 15-ranked Solvay on Saturday afternoon, moving the game to the brand-new artificial turf field at the high school due to the day-long rain.
For a long while, it remained scoreless, but the Bearcats’ Sam Chipman scored off a feed from Ole Matyiuk and put his side in front. Then Redd Long made it hold up, ultimately stopping all six of Cazenovia’s shots.
In Saturday’s game against Central Valley Academy, Chittenango suffered a 3-1 defeat to the Thunder, who bolted out to a 2-0 halftime lead. Cooper Reed’s two goals and one assist paced CVA and the Bears fell to 6-7 overall.
