Even as the Section III Class B playoffs loomed and they knew their paths may eventually cross again, the Westhill and Marcellus girls soccer teams knew better than to look past any regular-season opponent, regardless of their quality.
The state Class B no. 2-ranked Warriors went to Pulaski last Monday and methodically took apart the Blue Devils’ defense, leading by four at halftime and eventually earning a 7-0 victory.
One constant theme in this game was the attention that Jayanna Monds drew every time she dashed down the field. Pulaski kept her from the goal-scoring column, but Monds still managed to record four different assists.
Numerous players benefited from this, ranging from Katelyn Karleski and Carly Cristoforetti, who each scored twice, to the trio of Erin McMullen, Mackenzie Powers and Megan O’Reilly, who each got one goal. O’Reilly added an assist. Blue Devils goalie Abby Ward made 15 saves.
Back at home Thursday night, Westhill hosted Chittenango and rolled to a 6-0 victory over the Bears. Monds and Morgan Elmer both earned two goals, with O’Reilly and Erica Gangemi also finding the net as Cailey Robb contributed an assist.
While this went on, Marcellus met the Syracuse United city team, and it was tense for a long while before the Mustangs used a late outburst to pull out a 3-1 victory.
In the 15th minute, Abby Vetsch converted to give Marcellus the lead, but Syracuse’s Julia Puchalski answered in the 27th minute, and it was 1-1, where it stayed through halftime and a good portion of the second half, too, because Syracuse goalie Angelina Belair kept making big spots.
Despite Belair finishing with 15 saves, Marcellus kept on attacking, and with 13:27 left Liz White’s shot glanced off a Syrause defender past Belair for the go-ahead goal. But Marcellus was not safe until Vetsch found the net again six minutes later. Combined, goalies Grace Coon and Mary Colella stopped eight of nine Syracuse shots.
Bishop Ludden, who was coming off its first defeat of the season to Cicero-North Syracuse on Oct. 1, still was no. 9 in the state Class C rankings and survived a genuine upset bid from private-school rival Bishop Grimes last Tuesday night, prevailing 1-0 over the Cobras.
Grimes and Ludden combine for girls lacrosse in the spring, yet many of these players are rivals on the soccer field, as they were again on this night, when the Gaelic Knights, who blanked the Cobras 2-0 a month earlier, could not get on the board in a scoreless first half.
Not until Emma Driscoll, unassisted, put one past Grimes goalie Marissa Curtis in the second half did Ludden get in front. Curtis had otherwise earned 10 saves, while Grimes couldn’t generate much against a stubborn Gaelic Knights defense that protected Kara Beamish, who only had to make two saves.
In Friday’s game against Onondaga, Ludden tripped up again, taking a 1-0 defeat to the Tigers, one of those classic soccer results where one side has most of the chances and the other side wins, anyway.
The Gaelic Knights took 23 shots, all of which OCS goalie Jessika Southard stopped. Beamish, by contrast, had seven saves, but surrendered Alyssa Myer’s first-half goal, assisted by Becky Mack, which held up the rest of the way thanks to Southard’s efforts.
West Genesee, so good in the early portion of the season, stumbled again Thursday in a 1-0 defeat to Cicero-North Syracuse, a team it beat 2-0 earlier this season. Jenna Imbesi’s second-half goal made the difference for the Northstars, whose goalie, Chloe Gordon, stopped all five of the Wildcats’ shot attempts.
Jordan-Elbridge would prevail, 5-1, at Tyburn Academy last Tuesday night, with Allison Jennings doing most of the damage to the Crusaders as she produced the first three-goal hat trick of her varsity career. Alexis Braun and Emily Somes each had one goal.
Now, with a chance to clinch a winning record for the regular season, the Eagles would visit Hannibal on Thursday afternoon and, thanks to a second-half burst by Somes, beat the Warriors 3-1.
They were scoreless through 40 minutes, but once the break ended Somes began to take over. Three times, Somes put shots past Hannibal goalie Lindsay Zaleski, earning a hat trick with no small help from Hines, who assisted twice, and Mia Arms, who was sensational in goal, stopping 13 of the 14 shots she faced.
Solvay played Altmar-Parish-Williamstown last Tuesday afternoon, and the match ended in a 0-0 draw.
Two days later, at Skaneateles, Kadie Harrington and Leda Jacquin scored goals, but the Bearcats still lost to the Lakers 6-2, with Reanah Campbell scoring twice for Skaneateles and Mikaela Terhune and Sierra Sander each earning a goal and two assists. Haley Muehl, Solvay’s goalie, got six saves.