The Ellicottville Eagles girls’ soccer team picked up a hard-fought victory over Salamanca 2-1 Tuesday night. In a game where each team took turns controlling the action in their offense ends, it was the defenses that came up big time after time.
The Warriors came out very aggressively and controlled the first 10 minutes plus in the Eagles zone. However, they were not able to score as the defense lead by Goalie Courtney Marsh held them at bay. Marsh continues to have an excellent season and Salamanca Coach Kristen Furlong felt Marsh was the difference, “We played so well tonight. We had many opportunities but Ellicottville’s goalie made some amazing saves in the game!” All in all, both goalies played well as Marsh recorded 8 saves on 9 shots and Salamanca goalie Aaliyah Winship turned away 7 of the 9 she faced.
Offensively Addie John opened the scoring for the Eagles when she took a long pass from Katie Bless at the 23:41 mark for the opening score. Ady Andrews scored Ellicottville’s other goal, with another assist from Bless with just :20 remaining in the first half.
Salamanca got themselves right back in it when Leilene McComber scored just over a minute into the start of the second half. However, that would be all either team could do for the rest of the game as the defenses again stepped up. The Eagles move to 6-2-1 in the league as the Warriors fall to 5-5-0.
In other action, Portville continued their dominance and moved to 9-0 in league play with a 10-0 victory over Franklinville, the Panthers got goals from 7 different players; Emma Rhinehart (2), Grace Gariepy (2), Gianna Aloi (2), Ashley Carls, Ava Edwards, Ella Ziegler, and Allie Bray and limited Franklinville to just one shot on goal.
Allegany Limestone moved to 11-1 with a 6-2 win over Jamestown, Olean lost to Fredonia 1-5, and Catt-LV lost to Pine Valley/Gowanda 1-2 in overtime.