By HUNTER O. LYLE
ALLEGANY, NY – For 75 minutes, the Allegany-Limestone girl’s soccer team had held their breath. Despite stepping onto their home turf as the favorites, boasting a near-unblemished record opposed to their challengers, they had been the victim of a few early gut punches and were bobbing and weaving ever since.
However, falling back on their experience, trust and depth, the Gators slowly managed to keep their heads above water, white knuckling their way to a 3-2 win over Portville that amounted to a seventh straight check in the win column.
“These are two really good teams that gave everything they had for 80 minutes,” said Portville head coach Mike Matz. “I’d like to think if you rolled this game out ten times, it’d be a 6-to-4 or 5-to-5 split.”
Having amassed a 15-0 difference in the scoring column over the past 19 days, A-L’s prolific offense set the tone early. Squaring off inside the Panthers’ box, they scanned for paths towards the net, slowly and meticulously passing the ball as they probed deeper inside. But their patience failed to produce and sooner rather than later, Portville’s star separated herself from the pack.
For the past month of play, Grace Gariepy has put the Panthers on her shoulders, and against A-L, it was no different. Shaking off defenders with finesse and fundamentals, carving out long strides down the sidelines and zig-zagging down the field with an ebb and flow of passes, Gariepy flipped a switch and immediately turned the tide. Sending two early shots off the crossbar in rapid succession, the Panthers quickly became a threat.
As Gariepy and Co. continued to break open drives into enemy territory, the looming threat materialized midway through the period. In the 20th minute, Gariepy split two defenders before entering the box and booting a shot into the back of the net. Before the Gators could catch their breath, she did it again, stripping away A-L’s first touch and striking another close shot past the goalkeeper. In less than 30 seconds, Portville had amassed a 2-0 lead.
“It’s hard to ask an eighth-, ninth- or even a tenth-grade to lead. When you’re young, we don’t expect it, but now she’s a senior so now it’s time for her to lead,” said Portville head coach Mike Matz. “That’s the biggest intangible growth in her game. The leadership level and they all listen to her.”
Meanwhile, the Gators’ own star had been firmly held in check. Using a pseudo-man-mark on A-L’s leading goal scorer, Kennedy Honneck, Portville managed to hamstring and contain the opposition, penning them within midfield. As A-L’s wheels continued to spin, shots became erratic and a sense of offensive flow failed to materialize.
However, just before the half, the Gators caught a break. Snagging a deflection off a backpass, Leaa Kopp turned and sniped a shot into the top corner of the net, giving A-L some much needed relief as they entered halftime.
“In the first half, we were taking shots from 30 yards out when we had nobody in the next 10 to 15 yards. We needed to take advantage of that and get a little bit closer,” said MacArthur. “I get it. The kids get behind and they want to make the difference up immediately and it doesn’t happen that way. It works better if we’re patient.”
The seeds planted just before the break, slowly began to germinate in the second. But first the Gators had to handle Gariepy.
Stressing help defense, the Gators’ planted an extra body in between her in the goal and while Gariepy continued to make breaks down the field, she ultimately was bogged down in a swamp of black jerseys and unable to find her way out and towards the net. And with the threat subdued for the moment, the A-L finally found some sustained possessions on offense.
“(Gariepy) is one special player. She presents unique problems, but in the second half we did a really good job on her. She ran the field a lot, but when it counted, we were there defensively,” said MacArthur. “(Our girls are) mature enough to know we had to back off her and not be so tight, or have one (defender) tight and the other spaced off.”
Finding their footing, the Gators quickly made their way downfield, knocking on the door until finally breaking through in the 64th minute. Receiving a pass in the top left corner of the box, Kai Wojewoda-Ko launched a high-arching shot to the opposite corner of the net, finally bringing the game back to even.
Firmly in control of the momentum, the Gators continued to launch an assault on Portville’s defense, battering the net with a handful of goals until, with just five minutes to go, Kopp struck again. Running to open space, she received a through-ball, weaved past the defense and shot a lineup to the left of a diving goalkeeper, putting the pressure back onto the Panthers.
Despite desperate drives by Gariepy to bring the ball back downfield and keep the night alive, A-L’s defense, which had allowed zero goals in the previous seven games, showed their true form. Locking down the box, they staved off a return comeback and welcomed an eighth win to their resume.
Alongside Kopp and Wojewoda-Ko’s three combined goals, Kendall Lemon walked away from the Gators’ win with a pair of assists while Kenna MacArthur tallied three saves on the day. For Portville, Kaylin Elliot started in goal and recorded two saves, followed by Hudson Forness-Thomas with two saves.
At exactly halfway through the season, the Panthers’ season has not gone as hoped. For a team that ruled the Chautauqua Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division I standings a year ago, they now sit at a dead-even 4-4. However, still having eight games to go and with their hopes still high, they trust the old sentiment: steel sharpens steel.
“I’d like to think we’re on an upward trajectory. We started out 0-2 and looked really bad against Fredonia,” said Matz, whose team entered Thursday on a three-game win streak, “and since then we’ve tried to get better every game. And how do you do that, play better teams, like Allegany-Limestone.”
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