Lady Rebels remain scorched behind furious start, strong 2nd half defense to keep C-G at bay in season-series sweeping 2-1 victory, move to 7-0-1 on campaign
Photos and stories by CHRIS BROOKS, managing editor, wellsvillesports.com
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CANISTEO — There is a very real possibility that after being elevated up to the higher of the two C classes in Section V this season, the Lady Rebels of Cuba-Rushford could meet another one of their longtime hyphenated rivals in the Lady Chargers of Canisteo-Greenwood, in the big dance just a few short weeks from now.
The two foes already met once this season back in Cuba in the Championship game of the Tri-County Tournament — a game of momentous stature, with the Lady Rebels proceeding to claim their season-opening grand prize in front of their home crowd. Since that game, the Lady Chargers have not lost, having rattled off the next six wins in a row, including some rugged victories over Arkport-Canaseraga, Alfred-Almond and Campbell-Savona.
Thursday night in the Canisteo Valley, the first of two mammoth reservations were made for the dinner table. Against the Lady Chargers, it was the last for this regular season.
How about another Gladiator-esque battle in the Coliseum?
With State Finalist Fillmore waiting on the other side this weekend, the hope for Cuba-Rushford was to make a giant leap forward at a domicile they haven’t come away victorious in during head coach Aaron Wight’s tenure with the program.
That changed. Rapidly.
Another physical battle was in high demand between the two storied rivals, and through it all, the Lady Rebels were provided an opportunity to make their immediate impact against the Lady Chargers. Just past the 10-minute mark of the opening half, they proceeded to do just that, setting the tone with two quick goals in a five-minute span to claim the upperhand.
From that point onward, the remainder of battle rested solely on the shoulders of their defense, with Canisteo-Greenwood remaining within striking distance following their deficit-cutting score right before the end of the half. There was plenty of bending all throughout, but the Lady Rebels never broke one bit, as they sustained all the pressure the Lady Chargers tried to give them in the last 40 minutes, withstanding the test of time to march forward and capture a season-series sweeping 2-1 victory to remain undefeated in regulation play.
“This was a big step for us today,” said Lady Rebels coach Aaron Wight. “We’ve never beaten them at their place since I started coaching here. That’s credit to coach (Collin) Button, they are always tough regardless of how many kids they have graduated or how young they are. He has them playing great soccer. This was a pretty physical game and neither team really had a lot of good chances. I was happy with how we battled and handled their pressure, especially late in the game. We couldn’t ask for a better start to the game, but if anything, we need to do a better job of keeping the gas down in these types of situations.”
Right before crossing the 10-minute threshold in the first half, the Lady Rebels (7-0-1) supercharged their engines and ran off quickly, using their fury to provide the game’s first crack in the ice off a penalty inside the Canisteo-Greenwood box. At the 32:06 mark, Cloey Larabee was nominated to take care of business on the penalty kick, knocking it right home to the lower right-hand corner of the Lady Chargers cage to claim the 1-0 lead.
Canisteo-Greenwood was poised to tie the game up on the rush after the goal as a rocket appeared going in the upper left corner. But C-R goalie Annaleece Melton leaped and made a diving save to save the goal. With Melton scrambling to her feet and the ball near the goal line, Karleigh Truax was able to calmly send across the goal mouth to freshman Lily Tompkins who cleared it, denying another shot.
Cuba-Rushford built off the moment just five minutes later behind the guidance of Aubrey Williams, who grabbed ahold of possession herself after Larabee threw the ball back into play from the far sidelines, using some nifty finesse to shed a trio of Lady Chargers defenders before ripping a shot from range right upstairs to the top shelf to double their advantage.
Despite falling behind the eight-ball early on, Canisteo-Greenwood (6-2) remained composed and sanguine to cut their deficit down the middle at the 15-minute mark, as Lyla Greenfield collected a long pass from Kadyn Pilero at midfield alongside a pair of Cuba-Rushford defenders next to the near sideline.
The score would never see another increase on the board across the last 40 minutes of play, but despite that, there were plenty of opportunities to go around to try and turn the game up another level, beginning with a dynamic chance for Haydn Jones right off the rip, five minutes in.
Off of her direct kick into the Lady Chargers zone, it airmailed directly onto the lap of Larabee on the run, but a second touch on the ball could not be provided to finish off the play.
With it, she made a slight turn to the inside before ripping a shot that squirmed right through the grasp of Annaleece Melton in goal and into the far side of the cage to make it 2-1.
Cuba-Rushford kept knocking loudly at the front door with Molly Kunz leading the very next rush back into the Canisteo-Greenwood zone, lifting a pass back up to Larabee, who then shifted a remarkable pass over to the opposite side of the net where Williams nearly met the ball with a trap into the net to extend their lead back out to two again.
On the opposite end of the field, Melton came away with two gigantic saves on back-to-back looks at the cage for the Lady Chargers, with her first coming off a direct kick blistered by Pilero, meeting the shot with two big mitts to smack it away.
On the next opportunity, Melton regained her composure and delivered another phenomenal sequence, leaping up to touch some air and make another unbelievable save on a second attempt to tie the game.
Because of those two colossal saves down the stretch, the Lady Rebels were able to hold the fort down on defense the remainder of the way to finish off their season-series sweep of Canisteo-Greenwood in style, remaining undefeated in the same swing to carry a bounty of momentum into the weekend.
Melton would make 10 saves out of 11 shots faced for the Lady Rebels to score the win. As for the Lady Chargers, McKenna Ferris went on to make five saves out of the seven shots applied on net.
Saturday night, Cuba-Rushford will get back on the bus and now head up north to visit the 7-0 Fillmore Lady Eagles for a Homecoming battle of epic proportions, as the battle for Allegany County supremacy will be set to begin at 7:30 p.m. following the conclusion of the boys contest, which is set to begin at 5 p.m.
