ALLEGANY, NY – Welcoming a familiar face to their home turf, the Allegany-Limestone girl’s soccer team continued their dominance over the Trojans, earning a third straight win over Southwestern with a 2-0 victory in the Section VI Class C quarterfinals.
Seeing the Trojans twice during their 14-2 regular season campaign, the Gators were familiar with what was coming into town. Having narrowly swept the season series, including escaping overtime during their second showdown, A-L knew it was time to tighten in on the reins.
“You try to take everything you’ve done and focus on the things that we’re still not doing well. There’s always something and you try to triage them,” said Allegany-Limestone head coach Dale MacArthur. “We wanted to focus on changing the field and not getting stuck on one side of the field.”
Despite avoiding a bus ride to the first stage of the postseason, A-L came out stiff, failing to connect passes up field as their offense struggled to materialize. Meanwhile, the Trojans pushed on the gas with a rapid-fire tempo. Streaking up the field on several occasions, Southwestern threats pushed deeper and deeper into hostile territory while their pack-the-box defense kept the Gators far from a shot.
However, weathering the initial storm, A-L finally found their legs. Flipping the field with boot-and-rally lofting passes, Kai Wojewoda-Ko continuously found herself in open space, and in the 19th minute, her efforts paid off. Receiving a through-ball from up the middle, Wojewoda-Ko turned the corner and headed into the box. With a quick kick off the right, she drilled a shot into the back of the net, punching in her 13th score of the season.
Although A-L continued to press the issue, their ability to repeat the feat was ultimately held off deep into the second half.
Trading shots back-and-forth with the Trojans through the opening moments of the final period, the Gators defense formed first. Locking down the backfield, they forced Southwestern to pull from afar, low-chance shots that were continuously stopped by Kenna MacArthur in the net. Then, their offense found another crack in the armor.
In the 66th minute, the Gators earned a corner. Shooting it into the crowd, the ball found Wojewoda-Ko who settled it, aimed and fired. Finding the back of the net once again as A-L’s lead grew insurmountable. Holding Southwestern at bay for the final minutes, the Gators earned their first win of the playoffs as well as some more fuel to their fire.
“(Our confidence) should be pretty darn high. They’re playing well and we have some real dangerous folks,” said Dale MacArthur. “People will give us problems but we’ll give them problems too.”
Moving on to the next round, A-L will stay home for their Wednesday contest against No. 4 Eden. That game is slated for a 7 p.m. start.
Portville 3, Randolph 2
RANDOLPH, NY – Seeing two shots find the back of the net in the second half of their quarterfinals showdown with the Cardinals, the Panthers emerged from enemy territory with their season still intact.
Coming into the Class C bracket with the fifth seed, Portville took the hour-long drive to see the fifth seeded Cardinals, and immediately they were forced to get to work. After Randolph netted the first goal of the afternoon in just the fourth minute, it would take another 14 for Portville to respond. Airianna Whittaker came up with the response, scoring her eleventh goal of the season.
Although the score remained deadlocked entering the break, it wouldn’t stay that way for long. Less than a minute into the second half, Whittaker tacked on another goal to give Portville a 2-1 lead. Randolph found their own retaliation 21 minutes later, however, the Panthers’ most lethal weapon dashed any momentum. Sixty seconds after the equalizer, Grace Gariepy gave Portville the win with her 26th score of the year.
Up next, the Panthers will see top-seeded Wilson on Tuesday, staying on the road as they look for their ticket to the championship game. First touch is slated for 6:30 p.m.
Eden 3, Salamanca 1
EDEN, NY – Three days after their inaugural playoff win, the Warriors’ drive came to an end at the hands of the Raiders.
Meeting Eden for the second time this season, Salamanca came out strong, seeing the team’s leading-scorer, Addison Earley, score the first goal of the day in the second minute. However, from there it was all Eden.
The Raiders knotted the game in the 20th minute, holding a 1-1 draw into halftime, before finding back-to-back late goals in the 56th and 65th minute.
Salamanca ends their campaign at 14-4.
Football
CSP 47, Allegany-Limestone 24
PANAMA, NY – Matched up with one of the top teams in the Class C South standings, the Gators’ playoff hopes came to an end with a lop-sided loss on the road.
From the very first quarter, A-L was looking to hold off a prolific offense. In the first, the Wolfpack opened the day with a touchdown and 2-point conversion before tacking on 20 more points before the half. Although the Gators managed their way into the endzone in each of the second, third and fourth quarters, they were unable to play catch-up, suffering their fourth and final defeat as they fell to sixth in the standings and ultimately missing the cut for the ensuing playoffs.
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