CENTRAL NEW YORK – Having played such a memorable game the first time around, the Cazenovia and Chittenango boys soccer teams were set to battle again last Thursday afternoon at the Sean Googin Sports Complex.
And for a while, it looked like the Lakers would get a season sweep – but with a big late-game turnaround which featured a more diverse attack than it has shown most of the season, the Bears rallied to beat the Lakers 4-2.
Chittenango remembered that first meeting, a 2-1 overtime epic settled on Jack Coburn’s penalty kick that remained the Bears’ lone defeat of the season, yet it found itself dealing with that exact same score after just 40 minutes of the rematch.
Nat Gale, who had the other goal in the first meeting, converted here, too, as did Alex Dolly, with Finley Hagan getting an assist.
What changed things was that, unlike at many points this season, the Bears found offense outside the considerable skills of Gavin Karwoski.
During a dominant second half Chittenango tied it, went in front and tacked on an insurance goal, and while Karwoski was part of it netting his 26th and 27th goals, help came from Micah Schiralli and Jackson Blaszkow also finding the net.
Seth Boulter, Landon Touchette and Colin Smyth each picked up an assist, while Logan Bronner had perhaps his best game as a Chittenango goalie, turning back 19 of the Lakers’ 21 shots.
Charging into the game having won nine in a row, Cazenovia seemed to be sharpening itself with each outing, as evidenced by last Tuesday’s 8-0 romp over Solvay.
Having beaten the Bearcats 6-1 earlier this season, the Lakers were even more decisive here, converting four times in each half and getting all kinds of players involved, too.
Chittenango, for its part, also did not look ahead to the showdown, taking on Cortland last Tuesday and earning a 3-0 victory over the Purple Tigers in yet another showcase for Karwoski with big-time help from Jake Wagner.
Twice in the first half and again in the second half, Karwoski used his speed and skill to get open and, on each occasion, a deft pass from Wagner led to goals, a hat trick.
A far bigger win followed, though, and having improved to 10-1-1 Chittenango would visit Whitesboro on Saturday afternoon as Cazenovia took on undefeated, state Class B no. 13-ranked Lowville.
Both teams would get shut out. In the Lakers’ case it was a 2-0 decision where Alex Coburn and Oleksandr Yavorskyy combined for seven saves, but gave up goals to Peyton Matuszczak and Trey Smith, who assisted on each other’ scoring plays.
Meanwhlile, the Bears were blanked 3-0 by a Whitesboro side who got two goals from Xavier Pawlowski and another from Kadian Fischer while limiting Chittenango to just four shots all games.
