Friday Sectionals: No. 3 GV/Belfast avoids late scare from No. 6 HAC, reach Class C2 Semifinals behind 3-2 win; C-R girls blanked by No. 2 Geneseo, Fillmore boys upset No. 3 Finney in Class D
BELMONT — The Genesee Valley/Belfast ladies are destined to make a big postseason run. Of course in order to complete such a task, they will have some tough obstacles that will proceed to barricade their path towards the Finals, a spot they look to return to for a second time in three years, with a challenge from Bolivar-Richburg starting their journey on the right foot.
Next up was No. 6 Harley Allendale-Columbia in the Quarterfinal round. And if there was any evidence that things will not get any easier, a Friday night on Judy Bliven Field was it.
Despite a tremendous first half of soccer that allowed Genesee Valley/Belfast to take full control of the game’s complexion, the Lady Wolves would not allow them to place them in the rearview mirror just yet, as they turned up the heat in the late sequences of their battle to take a deficit as large as three and carve it down to a single goal in the final moments.
Through all of that bending, the Genesee Valley/Belfast defense never broke, as they maintained their 3-0 lead from across the first 40 minutes into the early stages of the next. Behind goals from Bayleigh Tallman and Hannah Southwick-Powers, they would remain in good hands for the rest of the battle to punch their ticket to the Class C2 Semifinal round by ending Harley Allendale-Columbia’s late comeback efforts and their season in one swing with a narrow 3-2 edge.
“I thought we set the tone early. We controlled the play and Bay (Tallman) finally got us on the board with a nice shot,” said GV/Belfast co-coach Lisa Scott-Schneider. “We opened the second half on fire, scoring two within six minutes, which was awesome. Then, we let them gain some confidence with a score and they pushed us the last 12 minutes of the game. We keep talking about surviving and advancing, and we did just that. We’ve got our biggest test of the season right around the corner, so we will enjoy this tonight and then it’s back to work. I’m happy for the girls to get No. 16 and keep raising the bar for the program.”
Genesee Valley/Belfast (16-1-1) emerged absolutely on fire, as they stacked the pressure up against Harley Allendale-Columbia almost immediately after the opening kick at midfield behind a plethora of opportunities to find the back of the net.
After tweaking the compulsion even more, the No. 3 seeds managed to finally work their way to the back of the net off the first of two Bayleigh Tallman goals, with her first coming on a breakaway on the Lady Wolves net off a pass from Whitney Young behind her, cutting in from the near sideline to obliterate a shot to the far post to score the early advantage.
The goal, representing a stand of brilliance from Genesee Valley/Belfast that gave them complete control of the pace of play across the board. They would use that momentum to start the second half in its entirety, as they went on to score back-to-back goals in nearly two minutes, with Tallman netting her second to open things up first on a perfectly placed love-tap of a pass from Young in the middle, picking up possession to gallop into the Harley Allendale-Columbia zone for a shot that airmailed directly to the near post to double their lead instantaneously.
They weren’t done yet.
The gas pedal was firmly pushed straight down to the floor with Hannah Southwick-Powers getting involved just moments later, as she raced past a multitude of Lady Wolves defenders off a missed ball near midfield, opening up the field of view for a breakaway opportunity at the cage. With the Lady Wolves keeping coming out for a play on the ball, the Genesee Valley/Belfast senior beat the challenge to the ball and sent her shot straight into an open net for a 3-0 lead.
But despite the early miscues from the Lady Wolves, they found a way to shake it off and give Genesee Valley/Belfast a run for their money in the last 15 minutes of the game.
Harley Allendale-Columbia reversed the momentum for their final push against the No. 3 seeds, striking gold with 13 minutes left on a ball that was placed in the middle of the Genesee Valley/Belfast box and ultimately launched by Nadia Wehbe directly over the head of Morgan Yackeren in between the posts to cut their deficit down to two.
The Lady Wolves were not out of it yet, as they put the hosts in black on their tippy-toes with 2:30 left until the final horn, trimming the deficit down to one after Wehbe handed out a critical assist to the middle of the box where Katherine Winchester awaited its arrival. With it, she then deployed a shot on line to the far post, beating Yackeren to continue bending the Genesee Valley/Belfast defense to the maximum.
The No. 6 seeds would continue to possess the momentum all the way down to the end, but Genesee Valley/Belfast ultimately prevailed, as they went on to avoid a very, very close scare from Harley Allendale-Columbia to navigate their way into the Semifinal round after the weekend.
Genesee Valley/Belfast went on to outshoot Harley Allendale-Columbia by a 9-6 count, with Yackeren picking up the victory in goal behind four saves.
The Class C2 Semifinals now await Genesee Valley/Belfast, as they now prepare for the fight of their lives against one of Section V’s perennial powerhouses in the girls soccer arena — the No. 2 Byron-Bergen Lady Bees. First kick between both teams will tentatively take place at 7:30 p.m. in Perry on Tuesday.
Class C1 Quarterfinals
No. 2 Geneseo 4, No. 7 Cuba-Rushford 0
GENESEO — The road ahead to the big stage is as hard as it gets. With a meeting with No. 2 Geneseo waiting on the other side, the Lady Rebels of Cuba-Rushford had to keep plugging away. Friday night brought about one of their fiercest challenges of their season, against a Lady Blue Devils team that has allowed only 10 goals all year.
For most of the first half, the Lady Rebels did everything imaginable to remain within reach of Geneseo, holding them to a 1-0 lead going into the break. Despite an early second half goal working its way into the back of the net for the two-seeds, the No. 7 seeds did not quit.
But when time was of the essence, the Lady Blue Devils would not allow them to pass. Instead, their 2-0 advantage was doubled once again in the waning minutes to ensure their victory at the final horn, as they scored two goals in the last three minutes of play to officially close the book on Cuba-Rushford’s marvelous season — the best in the Aaron Wight era, with a 4-0 home victory over the Lady Rebels.
“Anna (Melton) made some great saves to keep us in the game for about 75 minutes,” said Lady Rebels coach Aaron Wight. “We struggled to create a whole lot going forward. Geneseo is a very strong team defensively, and despite that, I was really pleased with the effort we gave them. They’re a great team and we hung around, and didn’t make it easy for them one bit.”
The Lady Blue Devils glued together an overwhelming 34-shot output against the Lady Rebels across all 80 minutes of soccer, with four of them finding their way into the net — one of the scores stemming in the first half, as Geneseo started the goalscoring just past the midway mark off a cross by Eleanor Bailey to Madilyn Ladelpha to score the 1-0 lead going into halftime.
Geneseo would paste another score in the early stages of the second half onto the scoreboard from Alison Fowler before freezing their 2-0 advantage into place for the majority of time ahead. With Cuba-Rushford looking to make one last push to pin the Lady Blue Devils deep in their defensive zone, the No. 2 seeds reversed the course of action and finished the night strong themselves, scoring back-to-back goals from Bailey and Fowler in 1:43 to officially put the game away for good.
The Lady Rebels were held to just two shots on goal by the Geneseo defense. On one end of the field, Annaleece Melton was working hard to keep the ball out of harm’s way, making 30 saves for the No. 7 seeds.
The 2024 campaign is now over for the Lady Rebels of Cuba-Rushford, as they finish a wonderful term of soccer with a record of 11-6-1 overall — the best finish during Wight’s tenure as head coach. As for the coach, he says that for his team to finally unlock their truest potential this year, it has now provided a major step forward.
“I feel like this has been a big step for us as a program this year. We’ve been hanging around a .500 record for the last three, four years and it finally broke through after that. It’s been a lot of fun coaching this group of seniors. Hopefully, this mark is something that we can continue to build on and create positive momentum that they have helped create.” Wight said.
As for Wight’s seniors, eight of them will be leaving the program this upcoming June, as the team prepares to say goodbye to Melton, Cloey Larabee, Brynn Lavery, Kaylie Foskit, Jenna Sutton, Jasmine Roe, Sarah Easterly and Tessa Higgins.
“It’s been great. These seniors have had really great attitudes and have worked really hard. I haven’t had a single issue with any of them during their time on Varsity with me. Cloey and Brynn specifically have been here since eighth grade. It’s going to look quite different in the pre-season next year without them.” said Wight.
BOYS SOCCER
Class D Quarterfinals
No. 6 Fillmore 2, No. 3 C.G. Finney 0
ROCHESTER — There have been all sorts of trials and tribulations for the Fillmore Eagles through the course of this season. But with the calendar now flipping to the playoffs, it brought about a brand new opportunity for the defending Class D champions to make some noise.
After a strong debut in the second season against Mount Morris, they now took their talents over the road with them for the remainder of the postseason, where their next stop took them to visit No. 3 C.G. Finney — a storied rival of the Eagles come this time of year.
At this stage of the game, you'll need one of your most complete efforts to get the job done and live another day. Behind the efforts of their two hottest players from round one, the Eagles most certainly delivered yet another knockout blow.
Isaiah Sisson and Brayden Walton were the two key cogs in Fillmore’s offense when they came together and supplied all three of their goals to knock off Mount Morris back on Tuesday. Fast forward to Friday, the two Eagles did it all over again in the Quarterfinal round, with Sisson breaking the ice first before shifting gears to aid Walton with his goal later on in the second half. All of that, while the defense continued to shut down the third-seeded Falcons right from the start, as they charted their course towards punching their ticket to the Class D Semifinals with a 2-0 blank.
“It was a really complete team effort on the road tonight to punch our ticket back to the Semifinals,” Eagles coach Jarrett Vosburg said. “We were able to win the midfield with all 11 guys on the field stepping up to win their share of the 50/50 balls. Our defensive effort stymied Finney’s offense, keeping them from getting a single shot on goal. Late in the first, Isaiah was taken down to set up his kick, which he promptly converted. Then, he helped give us some breathing room with some help on Walton’s goal. It’s hard to single out a single player of the game, with everyone playing with heart and grit. Credit to Finney for a hard-fought battle this afternoon.”
Right off the bat in the opening half, the Eagles (11-4-3) wasted absolutely no time making their impact against the Falcons, as they took advantage of a penalty inside the C.G. Finney box, which allowed Isaiah Sisson to take charge and bury home the free kick just three minutes into the game for a commanding 1-0 lead right away.
The lead was held intact all the way to the end of the first half behind a stellar display of defense, which became the story of the game for the Eagles, as they proceeded to hold the Falcons absolutely shotless from the field, finishing the contest with a 14-0 advantage in that respective department.
Fillmore would go on to add one more massive piece of insurance with eight minutes left in the contest, all behind an incredible individual effort by Sisson to weave his way past three different C.G. Finney defenders before crossing a ball to the front of the cage for Brayden Walton to knock home, doubling an advantage that soon became insurmountable.
Brayden Hennard was credited with the shutout in between the posts for the Eagles.
The next stop for Fillmore: The Class D Semifinals, which is set to begin Tuesday night, as they prepare to take on the No. 2 Naples Big Green — the same team they knocked off last year in overtime to win the Class D Championship. This time around, it will be for a chance to punch a return ticket back to the grand stage next weekend.
First kick is tentatively slated for a 5:30 p.m. start in Geneseo.
