Lady Lions provide 2nd half resurgence, scoring pair of goals while keeping Lady Jaguars at bay behind 2-1 road victory in season finale

Written By Chris Brooks

BELMONT — Friday night over the road in Fillmore, it was the first game for the Wellsville Lady Lions back on the field in two weeks. Originally, after their last game back on October 21 at Cuba-Rushford, they had thought their season was over. But with a little shape-shifting with their schedule, they were able to get back on the field two more times to pick up where they left off.

Although it didn’t quite go the way the team had hoped, they had a quick turnaround to end their regular season on a strong note less than 24 hours later down the road at Genesee Valley, Saturday afternoon.

Both the Lady Lions and Lady Jaguars had to do some early battling in the first half all the way across the midfield. Plenty of opportunities came, but none found the back of the net. Not until the second half however, when Wellsville things open.

The Lady Lions were able to break through the gates and fast, scoring relatively quickly in the second half of play to pick up the early lead. They would build upon it later on to provide a buffer zone from the Lady Jaguars that would help solidify their lead for good to end their season on the right note to move toward a 2-1 edge.

“It was awesome. We knew that yesterday’s game in Fillmore, we had to put behind us,” said Lady Lions coach Erica Aftuck. “I told the girls on the bus that the game was our practice. There’s only so much you can do when we had to sit idle for 14 days, but we didn’t really sit. We worked out on Zoom, but there just wasn’t soccer. It was awesome to see them come out with confidence, and they had fun with it. We’re starting to feel our mojo again, and I felt that we lost a little bit of that after we stopped playing. It didn’t matter if we were out of shape, and if we couldn’t complete a pass because the chemistry isn’t there, I told them to just win the ball and play hard. They did that, and they wanted this today.”

For the majority of the opening half, each team would take turns making rushes down the field on the offensive front. However, the majority of the shots would hit each respective goalkeeper, Wellsville’s Makenna Dunbar and Genesee Valley’s Ashley Burrows, directly for the save, as they prevented the ball from going behind them and into the back of the net.

Perhaps the biggest chance of the half came on one of those direct shots from the Lady Jaguars (9-4), and Emera Aquila, who made a long 55-yard jog down the far sidelines with possession alongside a pair of Wellsville defenders on the way in. After a pass over to Sierra Burrows to her left, she received the ball back for the off-balanced shot, but Dunbar was able to flag it down for the save nearly the end of the first half.

The first half would end in a scoreless tie, but it would not last long soon after.

Wellsville (2-5-2) found their way onto the board first over Genesee Valley just over three minutes into the second half, finding it on their first offensive rush toward the Lady Jaguars net. The ball finds its way on goal where a save was made by Burrows initially, but it would create a loose rebound immediately following for Marley Adams to put away the loose rebound to get the visitors off and running.

Not long after the Lady Lions went ahead, Genesee Valley would attempt to come back with a response a couple of offensive rushes later with Aquila leading the charge again, carrying the ball to the net while finessing her way past a couple of Lady Jaguars defenders. The shot would go off the hands of Dunbar and out, setting up what would be two straight corner kick chances, but Wellsville was able to clear away both chances.

Right before the brief break at the midway mark, the Lady Lions would build on their lead and take control. A scrum would formulate in front of the Genesee Valley net after Emily Costello drew the first opportunity on her pass into the right wing from center, to Kaylie Fuller. Fuller would maneuver her way to the front where she let the shot go, creating another rebound in front. This time, it was for Jaylynn Mess to put away on the far side of the goal out of the reach of Dunbar to branch the Wellsville lead to a pair.

“We talked a little bit at halftime, and I told the girls that I don’t know how many times we have to shoot the ball and then just stand and watch it,” Aftuck said. “We run a drill in practice where we just continuously run, and Marley did that with her goal. Goals come when you do that, and that’s what happened. And then Jaylynn had a great shot herself. This team is very coachable. They hear you tell them something and they would go out and do it. They get it.”

The Lady Jaguars would not allow the shutout to proceed any further toward the tail end of the action. With under four minutes left in the game, the deficit was cut in half to one on a beautifully set-up play by Aquila from the far side to the left side of the Wellsville cage where Sierra Burrows awaited the pass, trapping the ball into the net after taking a favorable ricochet off the crossbar and into the net.

But it was not enough in the end for the hosts in green to overcome, as Wellsville hung on to finish their regular season strong with their first win since the very beginning of the season on October 5, when they beat the Lady Rebels of Cuba-Rushford back home in overtime. For Aftuck, she said even after 14 days, she felt like the team was starting to turn a corner.

“It feels very good to have a win. 14 days is a long time, but even before that, we took that road trip to Cuba and things looked good when we forced that tie at the last second, literally,” she said. “They felt the season was turning around a little bit, but then it got cut short until now. They honestly thought we were done after that game, but we were fortunate to get two of these games back. Everyone feels good about this. To get a win at the start, and then a win at the end, it feels good. It’s been a weird season, so all we can do is try and stay positive, and have fun while playing soccer.”

Dunbar earned the win in goal behind a nine-save effort for the visitors in white and orange, while Burrows recorded 10 saves for the hosts.

Both teams will now await Sectional seeding after the weekend when the tournament officially gets underway Tuesday, as Wellsville wraps up with a record of 2-5-2, and Genesee Valley concludes at 9-4.

Chris Brooks
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