CENTRAL NEW YORK – Already quite aware of the challenges inherent in every single Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division match, the West Genesee boys soccer team aimed to keep up, and made some strong early impressions.
This was especially the case in last Tuesday night’s game against visiting Cicero-North Syracuse, where the Wildcats struck twice in the late going to defeat the Northstars 2-0.
They were 0-0 at intermission, but in the second half relentless WG pressure paid off when Logan Scott and Sean Dunning each picked up goals, the assists going to Jake McMahon and Tighe McMahon. Boston Crandall stopped all five shots he faced in the net.
Still at home Thursday to face Corcoran/ITC, the Wildcats rolled 7-0, Brendon Glowacki’s pair of goals leading a well-balanced attack where Logan Scott had a goal and two assists. Evan Powers, Nathan Quirk, Jeremy Clifton and Faris Malovic also converted.
Then, in Saturday’s non-league game at unbeaten Tully, WG won big again, 5-1, burning the Black Knights with more scoring balance as the five goals came from five players – Quirk, Glowacki, Jake McMahon, Christian Ball and Aaden Couse, with Scott contributing a pair of assists.
Skaneateles remained unbeaten last Thursday when, in a key early-season battle with its fellow Lakers from Cazenovia at Hyatt Stadium, it got off to a quick start and prevailed 4-1.
It was already 3-1 by halftime, the hosts led again by Ian Thompson, who would score twice to give him nine goals in just four games. Sam Ryan and Shea Musso also got goals, with Andrew Peterscak getting two assists and Caleb Langford a single assist.
Nearly a week after it lost to East Syracuse Minoa on Sept. 7, Westhill was back on the field Friday night and proceeded to defeat Cortland 6-0, with two goals from Mariusz Sobotka and a goal and two assists from Eric Holstein as Jackson Goodness, Tim Cowin and Teddy DeMore added goals.
A day later, against Homer, the Warriors, who meets Marcellus and Solvay this week, again won by a 6-0 margin, with Holstein, Cowin and Mason Franco each earning a goal and assist and other goals credited to Sobotka, DeMore and Cal Petrone.
Bishop Ludden started its week at 2-0 but faced a big challenge last Tuesday night when it took on Fabius-Pompey, the defending sectional Class C champions who had blanked Hamilton and Cincinnatus in its first two games.
Yet the Gaelic Knights passed that test, edging the Falcons 1-0 as the defenses, for the most part, thwarted each other’s attacks leaving for few real direct scoring opportunities.
So when Jack Ruddy, off a feed from Jack Marvin, put a shot past F-P goalie Brady Neuner in the first half, it proved the difference-maker, Ludden limiting the Falcons to just three shots all night.
This followed the Sept. 7 game against Mater Dei Academy where Ludden won by a 4-0 margin, scoring twice in each half led by Avery Nevil’s pair of goals. John Huddleston had one goal and assist, with Brendan Smith getting the other goal and Colden Sheen earning two assists. Braden Adika added an assist.
Avoiding a letdown after the F-P win, Ludden beat Corcoran/ITC 3-1, getting all of its goals in the first half. Sheen converted twice, the other goal going to Max Boyea, with Nick Brunger earning an assist.
Frustrated from those first two defeats it took, Marcellus let out that frustration on Jordan-Elbridge-Cato-Meridian Saturday in an 11-0 romp that featured Bryce Dineen’s three-goal hat trick.
Liam Lundrigan and Connor Ciota got two goals apiece, with Max Chapman getting two assists. Ethan Hubbard, Tom Moses, Owen Alexander and Colden Kwasnowski all found the net, too.
J-E/Cato took a 7-1 defeat to Cazenovia last Tuesday night, Collin Tiel’s second-half goal coming after the Eagles fell behind 5-0 in the first half. Alex Kunz finished with 11 saves.
Two days later, J-E/Cato did manage a 1-1 draw with Mexico, with Noah Spilberg, off a feed from Tiel, scoring in the second half to match the Tigers’ Len Liekfield after neither side got a first-half tally.
Solvay met Homer last Tuesday and lost, 4-0, to the Trojans. Frank Hayde earned nine saves, but Homer scored twice in each half with four different goal-scorers as the Bearcats fell 7-0 to Christian Brothers Academy two nights later and lost 3-1 to Faith Heritage Saturday despite Rahil Ramez’s goal.
