By HUNTER O. LYLE
lyleoleanstar@gmail.com
Over the past two months, three girls soccer teams have stood out through the seemingly relentless weeks of the regular season. Portville, Allegany-Limestone and Ellicottville all entered the postseason with stellar records, however, only one brought home a title.
The Lady Panthers began their 2024 campaign looking to improve upon their 12-5-1 finish from a year prior. In that season, then-senior Meghan Lyle led Portville to a Section VI Class B2 postseason berth as she posted 20 goals and 10 assists, both team-highs. Unfortunately for the Lady Panthers, their season came to a halt in the quarterfinals with a 3-2 loss to Allegany-Limestone. Returning this season, they wanted to build on their success by strengthening their roster.
“I told the kids from the very beginning that a lot of teams have a really good player. My concern was who’s going to be the second, third and fourth leading goal scorer. Who’s going to step up and fill that second and third role,” said Portville head coach Mike Matz. “We need to be dynamic and dangerous.”
While they may have lost their team leader in Lyle, the Lady Panthers were able to turn to their new weapon: Grace Gariepy.
As a freshman, Gariepy started her high school career by recording 18 goals and seven assists, just a stride behind Lyle. This year, she stepped into the new role at the tip of the spear, posting 33 goals – more than the next three Lady Panthers combined – and five assists.
“It would be easier to tell you what Grace doesn’t do well than what she does well. She does it all. In fact, one of the opposing coaches referred to her as a humming bird with too much coffee,” said Matz. “She never stops moving. She’s always encouraging her teammates, trying to set them up. She has a real keen understanding of the game. She’s beyond her years in terms of seeing the field and seeing what plays are available.”
With Gariepy at the helm, Portville finished 14-1-1 and earned the top spot in the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association II (CCAA 2) as well as the fourth seed in the Class C playoff bracket. Once there, the Lady Panthers met No. 5 Randolph, a team they had beaten and tied with during their two regular season meetings. In their third matchup, however, the Lady Cardinals would get the upper hand with a late-game penalty kick, eventually beating Portville 2-1.
“At the end of the day, there’s only one team that’s going to be happy. You’re always going to be wanting a little bit more,” said Matz, “but I feel really good about the future. Our youth program is great and there’s a lot of things to look forward to. The excitement is there and I think we have six girls that are coming back that are at some level of league all stars. If you look at the big picture, I think we’re in a really good spot.”
Allegany-Limestone also made improvements from a season ago, earning two a couple of extra wins to end the regular season at 15-1 atop the CCAA 1. This effort was made possible by four Lady Gators scoring double-digit goals and five tallying double-digit assists. At the top of the stat sheet sits Cait Kellogg, who posted a team-high 28 goals and nine assists in her senior season. Madison Honeck had 15 goals while leading the team with 16 assists, followed by Addie Fisher and Abby Peck who totalled 11 and 10 goals, respectively, while both recording 12 assists. Freshman Kennedy Honeck scored six times through the course of the season while assisting on 12 more.
After cruising through the regular season, collectively outsourcing their opponents 56-7, A-L continued to dominate in the postseason. As the No. 1 seed, the Lady Gators held home field advantage through the semifinals, beating Towanda 10-0, Alden 10-1 and Southwestern 4-1 before meeting Falconer/CV/MG in the finals, a team they had split the season series against. Despite accumulating a massive wave of momentum through the first three rounds of the postseason, the Lady Gators would come up short in the finals, losing 2-1.
Staying in the CCAA 1, Olean had quite a different season than the top ranked Lady Gators. After finishing their 2023 season at 6-8-2 with a trip to the Class A2 semifinals, the Lady Huskies struggled out of the gates in 2024, with a 1-7 start that snowballed into a 1-15-1 finish. With a 0-9-1 league record, they anchored the CCAA 1 without a playoff berth.
Moving back to CCAA 2, Salamanca also had a less than productive season, yet still showed upward progress. After finishing 5-9-3 a year prior, the Lady Warriors ended at 7-8-1 overall this year and finished at 6-6 in league play. Leading the charge was Eloise Brown, an eighth grader who notched a team-best seven goals. Following Brown was Madisyn Lafferty with five goals and one assist and Leilene McComber with four goals and four assists.
Like their previous season, the Lady Warriors earned a playoff berth in the Class B bracket. As the 12th seed, Salamanca drew fifth seeded Akron in the quarterfinals. Also like last season, Salamanca was sent home early, this time losing 7-0 to the Lady Tigers.
Sitting three spots above the Lady Warriors in the CCAA 2 is Ellicottville, the newly crowned Class D champions. After falling in the championship match a season ago, the Lady Golden Eagles were able to repeat their success and take home the title. However, they wouldn’t have predicted their success back in training camp.
“We lost six key players to graduation and had a lot of younger kids step up, so it took a little while to figure out how we were all going to mesh together,” said Ellicottville head coach Tammy Eddy. “It was a bunch of individuals making things happen but these girls worked hard to support each other and work together as a team and I feel like that’s why the end result was a blue patch and a sectional title.”
Through the season, Ellicottville relied on the trio of Addison John, Drew Ficek and Teaghan Finn to lead the pack. The duo combined for 29 goals and 13 assists through 17 games played as the Lady Golden Eagles amassed an 12-4-1 overall record worthy of the No. 1 seed in the Class D postseason.
“Those three command the middle, they help their teammates out on where to be and what to do in big situations,” said Eddy. “Those three were key in getting this team to come together as well as they have been.”
Entering the four-team bracket with a bye through the quarterfinals, Ellicottville took the postseason pitch for the first time in the finals. There, they saw No. 2 North Collins who won the Class D title over the Lady Golden Eagles a season prior. This time, however, Ellicottville would refuse to get back on the bus without a win, ultimately shutting out North Collins 2-0. Ficek and Finn each scored in the win.
“I think this team worked harder for this win than previous teams. I feel like in previous years we thought we were just going to win but this year it was like, ‘oh wow, we really need to work hard to win,’” said Eddy, who predicts to have 15 players returning to the team next season. “These girls definitely put in the time and effort to get where we are.”
