On Saturday night, the #2 Hornell Red Raiders soccer team took care of business as they have done almost every game this season with an 8-0 win over rival Bath-Haverling.
But in LeRoy, it was a different story. While the Wellsville Lions soccer team has a good record this season, LeRoy/Cal-Mum (12-3-1) was coming off an 11-0 win over Greece Odyssey and had the home field advantage in the quarters. But the Lions (10-4-4) pulled off a 2-1 stunner.
On the other side of the bracket, #1 Livonia (15-0-1) dispatched #8 Attica/Alexander, 4-0 as Livonia goalie Kaidan O’Connor recorded his 12th shutout of the year.
Livonia will face #5 Avon, who downed #4 Dansville 1-0 behind a Josh Harter’s goal late in the second half. Avon goalie Jack Devito earned his 11th shutout of the season.
Here’s an indepth look at the Wellsville and Hornell games:
CLASS B Semi-finals
Hornell 8, Bath-Haverling 0
Who do you stop when you prepare for Hornell? During the 8-0 win, seven different players scored goals.
Junior powerhouse, Wyatt Evingham had 2 goals and 3 assists in the win.
Senior PJ Picco scored the first goal of the night with a header into the net off a cross from Evingham. Cody Cardamone, defender Jayden Rasephei, Aquiles Souza, Gabriel Rasephei, and Austin Mead also scored for the Red Raiders.
In addition to Evingham’s 3 assists, Aquiles Souza (2), PJ Picco, Anatole Colson, & Kellen Crowe all tallied assists.
Hornell’s defense held the Rams to 2 shots on goal. Junior keeper, Alfie Whiteley had one save, and Junior Nash Adams also nabbed a save on the night.
Class B Quarterfinals
No. 6 Wellsville 2, No. 3 LeRoy/Cal-Mum 1
Story by Chris Brooks, managing editor, wellsvillesports.com
CALEDONIA — Saturday night’s performance for the Lions of Wellsville will go down in history.
They caught fire entering the tournament, and with a trip to the Semifinals now on the line, they looked to keep that blaze aflame over the road for the rest of their campaign, beginning with a visit to the No. 3 LeRoy/Cal-Mum Rivals.
The Lions have had the best of both worlds work in their favor down the stretch and into the playoffs, with the offense clicking and the defense stepping up to make massive plays to keep their opposition idle. One of those key pieces to the puzzle has been their goalkeeper, Gavin Haggerty, who has done everything imaginable to keep the ball out of harm’s way for Wellsville.
The Lions boys soccer program has seen plenty of incredible goalkeepers come and go over the course of time, with names like Tim Hardy, Matt Campbell and Hunter Kane amongst the few.
But for Haggerty, his latest performance might be the best one ever.
Aside from an early first half marker given up to LeRoy/Cal-Mum, the Wellsville senior keeper buckled down and delivered a masterful display of defense like no other.
While the offense reignited to deliver a comeback, Haggerty was sprawling left and right between the posts across all 40 minutes of remaining time in the second half, keeping the ball out of the net with 21 monstrous saves from shots applied by the host Rivals to ensure their ticket was punched to the Class B Semifinal round, as they upset the No. 3 seeds with a 2-1 victory in Caledonia.
“We talked at halftime about the choices we had to make about our level of effort,” said Lions coach Bethany Faulkner. “We didn’t look like ourselves, which meant we were capable of beating them. And for the full 40 minutes of the second half, they gave everything they had. We shifted Ty (Vogel) back to a midfielder and he helped immensely slowing the ball down through the middle and transitioning it back to offense. Aiden (Cowburn) was looking for endless opportunities, and Gavin stopped the show tonight. He had the game of his career.”
After some time battling for possession early, LeRoy/Cal-Mum dug down deep early and delivered a big strike to put the Lions (10-4-4) on their feet, with Jacob Wiley putting the first goal of the game away off a pass sent by Noah Kaczanowski close to midway in the frame. From that point on, for the remainder of the game, the rest would lay on the shoulders of Haggerty in net while the offense formulated their response and then some, to counter the No. 3 seeds.
Just past 10 minutes off the clock, Wellsville dished out a game-tying answer with the first of two markers by Aiden Cowburn, with his first coming on a loose ball in front of the LeRoy/Cal-Mum cage that the goalkeeper could not fully secure, as Cowburn raced in to finish off the shot with 13:22 remaining the half to tie the game.
From the second half on, the Wellsville defense would have to stand its ground against the test of time.
Led by a multitude of plays by the Rivals and saves from Haggerty behind them in between the posts, the Lions established a hefty amount of momentum off of it to utilize for the final stretch of the game, trying to break their first half deadlock with the Rivals.
Closing in on 10 minutes remaining, the Lions sought relief from Cowburn once again, as he took a throw-in from Cam Lyons and sprinted off to the races with it, taking one turn inside towards the LeRoy/Cal-Mum net and blasting home a gigantic go-ahead goal.
All the way down to the end of the game, there was no quit from the Lions, as they managed to seal the deal on defense one last time to keep LeRoy/Cal-Mum at bay, recording the biggest of upset victories to move on to Wednesday night’s Semifinal round.
In that Semifinal round, the Lions will now get set to square off with their longtime rival, the Hornell Red Raiders, for an opportunity at next weekend’s Class B Finals at Honeoye Falls-Lima.
