Saturday Roundup: B-R moves to 5-0 on season with 2nd tournament jewel, capture Scio Memorial with 5-1 triumph of C-R; GV/Belfast ladies blank A-A to move to early 4-0 start

SCIO — The Bolivar-Richburg Wolverines are off to one of their best starts in recent memory, finding themselves one win away from five straight and a second tournament title. A win over Cuba-Rushford in the Scio Memorial Boys Soccer Tournament title game would propel them to it.

With the lights on and the sun beginning to set, the stage would be as well.

It would be something that Bolivar-Richburg would embrace wholeheartedly right from the get-go, increasing the pressure against the Rebels until it would reach its boiling point to account for not one, nor two or three, but four first half goals to create all the room they would need to push towards the tournament’s grand prize by the end of the night, rolling towards a 5-1 triumph over Cuba-Rushford to remain unbeaten.

“This is one of the best starts that we’ve ever had. The boys are playing well and they are a whole lot of fun to be around,” said Wolverines coach Mike Zilker. “They work really hard and they have that desire to win. We have a great group of boys on all sides of the ball. I am proud of each and every one of them.”

Right from the opening kick at center, the Wolverines (5-0) stomped down on the gas pedal, posting a pair of chances led by Aydin Sisson’s guidance — one by his lonesome, and the other, partnered with Reiss Gaines. Both attempts were stopped by Jack Frank in goal for the Rebels, minutes apart from one another.

But the early cracking would eventually create a break in the ice, as Gaines found the back of the net in the first five minutes off a pass from David Baldwin, which was won at center and sent down the field to set it up. Nearly 10 minutes later, Gaines delivered his second of three in the half, capitalizing on a pressure build-up in front of the Cuba-Rushford (2-2) goal, as a pass straight across the box in front would find his body upon crashing towards the net nearly 10 minutes later.

The advantage would go to three with assistance from Landon Barkley, who set up shop with a big launch from the far corner and into the front of the goal, where a leaping Baldwin met the ball with his head to direct it into the goal for a 3-0 lead. With under seven minutes remaining in the half, Gaines would complete his hat trick after beating out a sliding Frank for the loose ball inside the box, working his way around one additional defender to knock it into the empty net.

The second half would see a battle for the ball develop through the midfield, up until the Rebels scored their first tally of the game, eliminating the shutout Bolivar-Richburg had held for most of the game with a marker from Tanner Lewis just over 10 minutes in.

But the four-goal lead of the Wolverines would return at the 22:26 mark by virtue of Aydin Sisson’s score, grabbing an Evan Pinney feed along the way to further cement the triumph to clinch this year’s Memorial Tournament crown. Bolivar-Richburg would go on to outshoot Cuba-Rushford by a 13-5 count, with David Abdo making all five saves to earn the victory.

Before the championship game, Andover/Whitesville and Friendship/Scio kicked off with the Consolation round — a game where early consistency outweighed a late surge of resiliency. In the first half, Andover/Whitesville came out swinging by scoring a pair of goals in their first four shots to build a lead that was challenged, but never lost, as they picked up their first win of the season with a 3-2 edge over the hosts.

“We have to start finishing. We’re missing two pretty big pieces of our team right now, and they’ll be back sooner rather than later,” Friendship/Scio co-coach Dillon McFall said. “Other guys have to step up and fill in that void, and put the ball into the net. We were down 2-0 at the half, and we almost looked deflated after that. But we came out fired up ready to go in the second half, and we got one in the first 10 minutes and then later to give them a little bit of a run. We just couldn’t find that last edge when we needed it.”

For the bulk of the first 40 minutes, both teams squared off in a midfield battle up and down field with Friendship/Scio garnering an early edge in chances. But on the their first shot on goal, Colton Calladine would give Andover/Whitesville (1-3) their first lead with 13:34 left to go, sprinting into the offensive zone before lifting a high ball straight over the head of Landon Arnold in goal and into the back of the net from just outside of the 18 to break the ice.

The lead was extended in the final five of the half, as the pendulum of momentum shifted in Andover/Whitesville’s favor with Kaiden Miller jetting towards the Friendship/Scio (0-3) goal on the breakaway after a Calladine pass from midfield, knocking the ball to the short side of Arnold to earn a 2-0 halftime lead to work with going forward.

In the second half, Friendship/Scio began to show signs of life and a sense of urgency, as they almost immediately cut their deficit in half with the first punch, courtesy of an excellent set-up starting with Taylor Moore and his shot right on target to Ethan Davenport, who was waiting at the back door to deliver a perfect trap of the ball into the net just five minutes in.

Another bundle of time would be spent fighting through the midfield before Andover/Whitesville was able to grab their two-goal lead back again in tremendous fashion — A Brody Vance kick from the near corner sailing in on goal, meeting a picture-perfect trap by Calladine right next to the far post and into the cage for a 3-1 lead, just past midway.

But from that point on, it was Friendship/Scio’s destiny to control, as they saw the majority of chances on offense go their way. They inch back to within one with five minutes remaining with a Jerome Harmon tally next to the far post off a Davenport send-in. The pressure from the hosts would reach its highest level right in the endgame stages, but time would ultimately run out, as Andover/Whitesville held on to secure their first win for first-year head coach Cody Borden.

Friendship/Scio outshot Andover/Whitesville by an 8-7 count, with Landon Ordway picking up the win with six saves. On the other end, Arnold would put a stop to four saves for the hosts.

Listed below are all four teams and their next games coming up, after the weekend:

Bolivar-Richburg — at Wellsville, Tuesday at 5 p.m.

Cuba-Rushford — at Hinsdale, Monday at 7 p.m.

Andover/Whitesville — at Hammondsport, Monday at 6:30 p.m.

Friendship/Scio — at Cuba-Rushford, Tuesday 5 p.m.

Way-Co Tourney Consolation

Wellsville 1, Greece Olympia 0

COHOCTON — One was the magic number on the scoreboard at the Cohocton Sports Complex, Saturday night. And it was a number that benefitted the Wellsville Lions the most, as they were the only one in Consolation round action to find the back of the net, scoring the lone goal to end their weekend on a high note with a 1-0 shutout over Greece Olympia.

The marker for the Lions (2-2) was scored in the late stages of the opening half, where Aiden Cowburn shifted along a pass to Ethan Bailey to take in towards the Greece Olympia goal, putting the finishing touch on the play a short time later. Wellsville would then shift their focus on defense to hold the Spartans at a standstill, as Logan Dunbar was able to complete his shutout in between the posts.

“This was our best game of the season so far. I’m very proud of them for standing tall against a really skilled Greece Olympia team. Monday’s game will be a tough one, but if we can play like we did tonight, it will be a great game against Fillmore.” said Lions coach Noah Holmok.

Further statistics were not made available to report upon publication.

Wellsville will return to the field back over the road on Monday, as they prepare for a 7 p.m. visit to Fillmore to face the defending Class D State Finalist Eagles.

GIRLS SOCCER

Genesee Valley/Belfast 4, Alfred-Almond 0

ALMOND — All through an 7-9 campaign last season, the Genesee Valley/Belfast ladies grabbed five of those wins by a blanking of their opponent. Entering Saturday morning’s road trip to Alfred-Almond, the United team was on a similar pace towards that marker — in their first three games.

After a hot first half start against the host Lady Eagles, Genesee Valley/Belfast would go on to make it four straight shutouts to start their 2022 campaign, as a hat trick from Hannah Southwick-Powers assisted in igniting it, while the defense kept the opposition at bay across all 80 minutes in their 4-0 shutout.

“We came out flat in the second half, but our defense has been rock solid to start the season,” said GV/Belfast co-coach Duane Powers. “We had five shutouts all of last season, now we have four through our first four games. It’s definitely a great start, and it helps after we moved Mary (Hamer) to sweeper last season. She was learning on the go, but fast forward to this year and she is much more comfortable taking control for us. It’s allowed us to open up the field even more, because we all have so much confidence in her and the defense as a whole.”

Genesee Valley/Belfast (4-0) would account for their first three goals all in the opening half, with Harley Proctor breaking the ice within the first 10 minutes, hooking up with Adison Grusendorf on one of the team’s first big rushes into the Alfred-Almond zone. From that point forward, the rest of the offense came from Southwick-Powers with her first coming off one of two Sophie Zillgitt passes just over four minutes later at the 29:13 mark.

The two would connect once more to branch out the Genesee Valley/Belfast lead to three to end the first half, completing her first half hat trick at the 25:58 mark on the board.

After a battle through the midfield to start the second half, the visitors in white and black capped off the victory with one final goal by Southwick-Powers to complete her hat trick near midway, with Sondra Guilford handing off the final assist. Genesee Valley/Belfast would total 13 shots on the Alfred-Almond net, whilst only giving up five in return on defense.

Ashley Burrows would make all five stops to record her fourth shutout in between the posts.

Genesee Valley/Belfast will now aim for their fifth straight win when they return to action on the road Wednesday night, visiting the Cuba-Rushford Lady Rebels in a 5 p.m. first kick.

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL

Bolivar-Richburg at Allegany-Limestone - No Report.