CENTRAL NEW YORK – An 11-5 regular-season record was supposed to, at least in theory, give the Chittenango girls soccer team a reasonable path forward in the Section III Class A playoffs.
What the no. 5 seed Bears got, though, was a difficult assignment Thursday night in the quarterfinal round as it traveled to face no. 4 seed Central Valley Academy and was ousted by the Thunder in a 2-0 decision.
CVA had a 13-3 record plus plenty of good recent sectional tournament history it could draw on. Most of all, it had a defense which knew who it had to target on Chittenango’s roster.
From the outset, the Thunder honed in on 37-goal scorer Abby Scheidelman and 17-goal scorer Hannah Machan, taking the young duo out of their rhythm and, by doing so, containing the Bears’ attack.
All nine of Chittenango’s shots were stopped by CVA goalkeeper Leah Brown, and her work kept the game 0-0 until her teammates, in the second half, broke through.
Sophia Watkins proved the key figure as the Thunder forward not only scored, she assisted on the other goal by Izzy Terzioski, CVA advancing to face top seed New Hartford in the semifinals.
It was the unique burden of Cazenovia to work from a no. 10 seed knowing the kind of competition it might run into during the sectional Class B playoffs.
Yet the no. 10 seed Lakers nearly pulled one out, pushing no. 7 seed Phoenix all the way to the final whistle before the Firebirds were able to escape and end Cazenovia’s season by a 1-0 margin.
They played on even terms most of the way, with Skye Stanford stopping most of the shots she faced on her way to six saves.
Only once did Phoenix convert, Katherine Kraft netting the goal assisted by Alaina Peplinski, and it held up, the Firebirds limiting the Lakers to five shots, all grabbed by Lyla Duskee. Cazenovia concluded its season with a 4-13 record.
