WELLSVILLE — Their final regular season game doesn’t take place until Friday night, but just a couple of days prior to that, 11 Wellsville Seniors embraced the limelight for one of their very last dances on the pitch inside the Lion’s Den, as the journey towards Sectionals raged onwards come Wednesday night.
After all the departing seniors joined and celebrated with their families, it was go time. A date with Genesee Valley/Belfast, one of Allegany County’s hottest teams, now stood in their way.
With an exhilarating and intoxicating aura shrouding the playing grounds, it was something that Wellsville wanted to take complete advantage of.
The offense stepped up.
The offense’s genesis was pinpointed directly on Karson Grover and Aiden Cowburn, as the two Lions seniors both had a hand in all three of the team’s goals, including a humongous pair of first half scores to set the tone on Genesee Valley/Belfast. Despite their lead being cut in half in the early bird stages of the last 40 minutes, the Lions never relinquished the advantage, as they sent all of their seniors out in style with a masterful 3-1 victory under the lights.
“They definitely went in tonight with a sense of pride that they deserve to have,” Lions coach Bethany Faulkner said. “They saw opportunities all night long. I’ve been waiting on Karson to capitalize at the top of the 18 all season, and he really succeeded tonight. The overall dynamic was different than the first half. I think we played rather flat in the second half, but we did just enough to maintain and find that last surge to finish the game hard.”
Six minutes off the clock, you could paint as pretty of a picture possible for Wellsville’s (7-4-4) first goal, with Cowburn leading the first big charge into the Genesee Valley/Belfast zone next to the near sideline, as he passed a ball right to the feet of Grover, who landed a bullet on the run to the inside, breaking the ice in the process.
The Lions kept the pressure up with just past 15 minutes removed off the clock, with their next big application of pressure coming from Nick Germain-Tardieu on a run up the far sideline, shaking off one Genesee Valley/Belfast (12-2-1) defender before delivering a pass to Cowburn that was ultimately met with a defensive clear.
Chances were limited to strike for Genesee Valley/Belfast, with a wide open look at the Wellsville net from Evan Turybury being shut down almost immediately after it was met. But despite it, they went on to claim a 13-6 advantage in the shots department at the end of the contest.
As for the Lions, they went on to double their lead following Genesee Valley/Belfast’s next chance to tie the game.
It would stem off a direct kick besides the cage adjacent to the far sideline, with Cowburn electing to take the kick. With it, it would not take any redirections nor touch anybody in front of the opposing net. Instead, Cowburn’s kick curled straight in on goal and to the near post’s netting before taking a couple of redirections in the back of the net with under 20 minutes remaining in the frame.
With a 2-0 lead in hand, it was time to play defense. But almost right off the hop, Genesee Valley/Belfast ultimately trimmed the deficit right in half following a Gavin Haggerty goal kick. The possession was forced back, with a strong joust for possession was captured by Ryan Snyder, who ripped a shot right off the mitts of a leaping Haggerty across.
The initial save would wind up creating an available rebound for the visitors to pick up, led by Jordan White, who sent the ball to the front on a cross for a slip-and-sliding Sal Gambino on the nearside.
The 2-1 lead remained intact leading up until the last two minutes in regulation, when a massive piece of insurance was gathered by the Lions. While maintaining discipline on defense, Cowburn dished along one final pass to the middle of the field, where a streaking Grover galloped in on goal from the 30-yard line to knock home the final score of the game right to the near post.
The piece of insurance, helping solidify one heck of a run for all 11 seniors in Wellsville.
“Having 11 seniors may never happen again,” said Faulkner. “It’s really incredible to have a group of boys that have had this much time to build together and have the wins they’ve had this season. This is very well deserved.”
In goal, Haggerty picked up the big win behind 10 saves, while Zach Thomas made five saves for Genesee Valley/Belfast.
Both teams will put a wrap on their regular season campaigns on Friday, with Wellsville playing host to Bolivar-Richburg in a 4 p.m. contest, while Genesee Valley/Belfast heads back up north for a pit stop to Scio, taking on host Friendship/Scio at 6 p.m.
