Saturday Roundup: Southwick-Powers breaks through for GV/Belfast with OT winner over Avo/Pra in defensive battle; O’Connor scores for Lady Lions, deadlock A-A in Driskell Tournament title game

BELFAST — Genesee Valley/Belfast answered the bell in what was a difficult game one contest with the C.G. Finney Lady Falcons back on Thursday. The hope was for the game one victory to carry over into the weekend with the Avoca/Prattsburgh Lady Titans in town to visit the Rich Sullivan Athletics Complex.

Through a vast majority of the opening half, both teams combined to apply just two shots on goal, one on each end of the field. But going into the second half, the momentum began to build through all of the early scoring chances in the first 40 minutes. As a result, Avoca/Prattsburgh and Genesee Valley/Belfast both found the back of the net once to force overtime.

But all that was needed was nearly two minutes of time to determine the outcome for the night. That was supplied by Hannah Southwick-Powers, who raced her high horse all the way into the Avoca/Prattsburgh zone to deliver Genesee Valley/Belfast’s golden goal in quick fashion, finishing the night and the weekend on a victorious note with a 2-1 overtime win.

“What a gritty, hard-fought win. We have some youth in key places and it showed tonight, but Hannah stepped up late and delivered a huge goal in overtime when we needed it the most. Kimme Ball had a monster game in goal to help keep us in it too.” said GV/Belfast co-coach Duane Powers.

For much of the first half, the battle was on. Between each side, many rushes into the offensive zone were made, plenty of scoring opportunities started to come into fruition.

But it was a true defensive battle up and down the field across the majority of a 40-minute period that saw just two shots, one for both Avoca/Prattsburgh and Genesee Valley/Belfast, before last minute pressure by the hosts in black and gray saw them record three straight shots — two from Southwick-Powers and one by Jenna Hill, all stopped by Elise Harrell before time expired.

Kimme Ball would also make a stellar save herself from within the half’s final minute off a breakaway rush by the Lady Titans, racing out to meet the Lady Titans attacker near the top of the 18 with a slide to cover the ball up.

With mutual knocking at their respective doors continuing into the second half, time would run down to the last 20 minutes before Genesee Valley/Belfast (2-0) found their way onto the board first with Southwick-Powers helping set it all up in the midst of a mad scramble in front of the Avoca/Prattsburgh cage, sending a pass along to Sophie Zillgitt, who pried it free and buried it home for the icebreaker.

Up 1-0 and time whittling away on the clock, Genesee Valley/Belfast would now turn to their defense to help keep their advantage intact. But Avoca/Prattsburgh had other plans in mind for the endgame stages with 2:16 to go, as Olivia Kilmer was set up by Meyah Putnam for the equalizing tally to force extra time.

But it wouldn’t take long in overtime for the game-winning goal to find the back of the net, as Southwick-Powers ended it for Genesee Valley/Belfast nearly two minutes into the extra session on a breakaway to the Avoca/Prattsburgh net. The penultimate goal was one of 11 total shots Genesee Valley/Belfast had against the Lady Titans, outshooting them by an 11-5 count.

In goal, Ball recorded the victory with four saves while Harrell made nine saves for the Lady Titans.

Genesee Valley/Belfast is back on the field Tuesday night, this time at Judy Bliven Field in Belmont, where they host Bolivar-Richburg in a 7 p.m. first kick.

Addison Tournament Championship

Alfred-Almond 1, Wellsville 1

ADDISON — After a brilliant start that saw them take down host Addison in a first half battle just 48 hours ago, the Lady Lions of Wellsville now found themselves in the fast lane towards the Blake Driscoll Championship game on Saturday.

All of a sudden, they were one win away from a perfect opening tenure in Addison to start their season. Standing in their way of that ideal obstacle were the Alfred-Almond Lady Eagles, who were also looking to do the same themselves after a win against Campbell-Savona.

But like their previous first round matchup with the Lady Knights, the Lady Lions were tasked with another tough challenge all game long. In the end, it was a game in which the team in black and orange had not come out on top. It was a game that didn’t give them their first loss either.

After each team found the back of the net in the last 20 minutes of the opening half, both Alfred-Almond and Wellsville buckled in down for the remainder of the game on defense, as they settled on their first deadlock through 100 minutes of competitive soccer with a 1-1 decision to split this year’s tournament crown.

The Lady Lions (1-0-1) were the first team to strike in the midst of a fierce midfield battle in the early stages of the opening half, when Makenzie Cowburn delivered a strong ball upfield to Talia O’Connor for her second of the season near the midway mark, breaking the ice with a 1-0 lead.

The lead was held down to the wire in the half, when Alfred-Almond saw their way onto the board for the first and only time on a score from Katen Donlon with five minutes remaining.

From that point forward, both teams were stride for stride with one another for the next 60 minutes of action before the final horn sounded, with a 1-1 tie remaining on the board.

Despite the deadlock, the Lady Lions were at the top of their game once more on offense, outshooting Alfred-Almond by a massive 24-5 count. In goal, Madison Thompson made four saves.

Wellsville is back on the field for more tournament action beginning on Wednesday at Wayland-Cohocton, as they prepare for a 5 p.m. first round matchup against Letchworth.

Fillmore Tournament

Fillmore 4, Portville 0

FILLMORE — The Lady Eagles of Fillmore finished up their weekend in the most perfect of ways, Saturday night. After a dominant shutout performance over Holland, they would close out a 2-0 tournament outing through a strong performance from the Lady Panthers of Portville, using three second half goals to propel their ascension to glory with a 4-0 blank.

“We were certainly challenged from the beginning. We expected Portville to be a handful and the first half was as advertised,” Lady Eagles coach Jon Beardsley said. “We had a few more chances in the first half but couldn’t break through. At halftime, we regrouped and with our leadership, the girls responded and upped their intensity and level of play. Hope (Russell) came out and scored the next two goals and our overall play showed more effort and comfortableness. Our defense was rock solid against a very good Portville offense. It’s all about being effective, especially in a game like this, and they were.”

Through a stout defensive battle in the opening 40 minutes, the Lady Eagles (2-0) were able to somehow find an open window through all of it with the game’s first goal near the midway mark, which was set up by a pretty corner kick off the foot of Amelia Rose and straight to the front of the Portville cage where Grace Russell met the ball with ease to put the score away for her third of the season.

It would give Fillmore the upper-hand on the Lady Panthers going into the break, but the decibel level on the field to start the second half went straight through the roof with Hope Russell’s back-to-back pair of scores in rapid succession upping the Lady Eagles to three, with the first coming on a helper from Grace before taking the next all by herself to the Portville net.

The three-goal lead would hold until Tenlee Miller helped put the finishing touches on the victory and the perfect weekend for the hosts in black just past the halfway mark on a Hope Russell apple up the field to make it a 4-0 lead. The four Fillmore goals came on 14 total shots they would apply against the visitors in white and maroon, compared to the five in return that the Lady Panthers had.

In goal, Preslee Miller was rock solid, stopping all five shots to record her second consecutive shutout to open her senior season in between the posts.

The Lady Eagles are now off until Tuesday night, where they prepare for a 5 p.m. visit to Andover/Whitesville, in Whitesville.

BOYS SOCCER

Alfred-Almond 10, Friendship/Scio 0

ALMOND — With a split of the two-day action in Addison now in the wagon, the Eagles of Alfred-Almond returned home on Saturday and opened their home slate of games with the biggest of bangs, as they picked up a massive 10-0 shutout of visiting Friendship/Scio.

Stats were not made available to report upon publication.

Friendship/Scio (0-1) will hit the road once more on Tuesday, visiting the defending Class D State Champion Fillmore Eagles in a 7 p.m. contest.