Thursday Roundup: Lady Rebels stave off late pressure from Wellsville with big goal to score 2-0 shutout; B-R boys top C-R with early 1st half goal in home blank

CUBA — The pressure was on. In Thursday night’s battle between Wellsville and Cuba-Rushford, the Lady Rebels were able to establish the pre-emptive strike on the Lady Lions to enter halftime on top. Then, the visitors in white and orange turned up the heat, keeping their opposition on their feet for much of the second half.

But when an opening was sought, the Lady Rebels connected, as they scored a massive goal with 10:39 left in the second half to branch out their one-goal lead to a pair, with their big piece of insurance sealing the deal on Cuba-Rushford’s 2-0 home triumph to officially sweep Wellsville on the season.

“Tonight’s game was a good battle. It was pretty open for most of the game,” Lady Rebels coach Aaron Wight said. “I thought we did a decent job defensively of limiting their chance when we could. They really didn’t have a ton of good opportunities, and when we had some, we took advantage of them. It was good to get that second goal late, Wellsville was putting us under pressure quite a bit in the second half.”

The goal scoring started back in the waning minutes of the opening half, with Shae Maples striking first for the Lady Rebels (8-6) to earn the 1-0 lead at the break off a pass distributed by Lillian Forward from behind. A midfield battle would rage on for much of the second half between the Lady Rebels and Lady Lions (4-9) before the hosts in blue and white managed to finesse their way through the Wellsville defense.

As a result, the Lady Rebels branched their lead to a pair — an advantage that proved to be enough in the end to hang onto a lead they never lost, with Sofia Riquelme’s netter off a Christy Childs helper paying dividends with nearly 10 minutes left in the game to seal the deal.

Both teams were deadlocked much of the game in the shot department, as they each recorded 14 total shots on their respective cages. But it is Tara Duvall that picks up the victory for Cuba-Rushford, making nine saves to do so. On the opposite side, Makenna Dunbar set aside 10 shots for the Lady Lions.

The Lady Rebels will return to their home field on Wednesday, where they will look to clinch the program’s first winning season under Wight with a 5 p.m. battle scheduled against incoming Genesee Valley/Belfast.

As for Wellsville, they head back home to welcome in the Dansville Lady Mustangs for an 11 a.m. visit, Saturday morning.

Andover/Whitesville 6, Bolivar-Richburg 2

ANDOVER — 30 shots between both Bolivar-Richburg and Andover/Whitesville pummeled their respective cages across what was a very active 80 minutes of play in Andover on Thursday.

Out of those shots, eight goals were scored. The majority of which came in the final 40 minute session after Andover/Whitesville took a 2-0 lead at the break over the Lady Wolverines. After the visitors began the second half by cutting their deficit in half, the hosts in purple and white responded loud and clear.

Up by one for much of the half, a multitude of goals began to rain down on the Bolivar-Richburg cage, as Andover/Whitesville struck gold with their last four goals coming in a span of just over nine minutes of play, allowing themselves to pull away toward victory by a 6-2 count to jump back above .500 once more.

“We moved the ball really well tonight, and it allowed us to create a number of scoring chances,” said Andover/Whitesville co-coach Aaron Rawady. “Fortunately, we were able to capitalize on a few of those, and it’s something that we’ve struggled to do lately. We still need to clean up things defensively. We aren’t as sharp in that area as we need to be at this point in the season. Overall, it was a good performance by the girls tonight, and a much needed result.”

Andover/Whitesville (7-6) jumped on Bolivar-Richburg early with the game’s first goal from Rachel Jackson, who was handed a big helper from Gabby Terhune, who had a massive night for the hosts with one of two assists to go with two goals, completing a six-point game.

Terhune would score her goals consecutively between each half of play, in between Bolivar-Richburg’s (6-6) first of the game from McKinlee Harris, who also had two goals for the Lady Wolverines, with Terhune branching Andover/Whitesville’s first half lead at the break off a helper from Zoey Lee on the way into the offensive zone.

Before Terhune branched the lead, Harris would cut the deficit back down to one with a goal coming in the first 10 minutes of the second half to get the Lady Wolverines on the board. Then, the deficit began to grow larger and larger past the halfway point, as Andover/Whitesville accounted for their four remaining goals in a span of just over nine minutes beginning with Terhune knocking away her unassisted tally right off her corner kick.

Kennedy Bledsoe, Zoey Lee and Makaila Brewster all followed suit with goals of their own to wrap up shop for the hosts, with Terhune grabbing her final assist on Bledsoe’s goal, while Bledsoe chimed in with two assists on the last two netters.

In between the offensive avalanche, Harris would find a way to knock the deficit back down for the Lady Wolverines at the 9:53 mark, decreasing the host’s advantage to 5-2, but just 33 seconds later, Brewster gave Andover/Whitesville their four-goal cushion back once and for all with her first of the season to conclude the contest. Both of Harris’ goals were assisted by Madigan Harris.

In all, Andover/Whitesville outshot Bolivar-Richburg by a 20-10 total count, with Brynn Scholl recording the win in between the pipes behind eight saves, while Breanna Militello made 14 saves on the other end for the Lady Wolverines.

Each team will have Genesee Valley/Belfast up next on their slate, with Bolivar-Richburg up first on Saturday with a 4:30 p.m. contest in Belfast, while Andover/Whitesville waits until Tuesday night at 7 p.m. for their opportunity.

Arkport/Canaseraga 4, Genesee Valley/Belfast 0

ARKPORT — Steuben County’s leading goal-scorer found the back of the net by any means necessary on Thursday, as Arkport/Canaseraga’s Julia Flaitz recorded a hat trick to power up the Lady Wolves victory — their eighth in a row after starting the season 0-3, by a 4-0 count over Genesee Valley/Belfast.

Despite the loss, Genesee Valley/Belfast (7-5) managed to record 11 shots on the Arkport/Canaseraga cage, outshooting the Lady Wolves by an 11-9 count, but the first half damage provided by Flaitz proved to be a big difference maker as the night went on, claiming the ultimate victory behind a big 3-0 lead at halftime.

In goal, Ashley Burrows made six saves for the visitors, who now return home for a 4:30 p.m. contest in Belfast against incoming Bolivar-Richburg, Saturday evening.

Fillmore 7, Friendship/Scio 0

FILLMORE — Senior Night was a complete success for the Lady Eagles of Fillmore on Thursday, but it was juniors Hope and Grace Russell that had just as big of a night on the field, each scoring two goals to ride the undefeated wave towards triumph in a 7-0 shutout of Friendship/Scio.

The Russells gathered a pair of goals in each half to power up the Fillmore (13-0) offense with Grace scoring the first of the game just past the 10 minute mark off a feed provided by Sophia Templeton.

Hope would then find the board herself to close out a 2-0 lead at the break off a helper from the foot of Kaleigh Kinnicutt.

Then, a second half explosion, as the Lady Eagles went on to score their last five goals in the final session of play, with their first coming a minute in off a corner kick provided by Templeton to Hope Russell.

Three more goals were scored in a span of five minutes beginning just past the 10 minute mark of the second half, as Grace Russell, Zoe Beardsley, and Sophia Templeton all found the back of the net to continue extending Fillmore’s lead, with Beardsley scoring off a direct kick. Rachel Hatch would score the team’s final goal with nine minutes remaining to cap off a big night for the hosts in black and green.

“It was Senior night for us tonight, and our seniors have done a lot for our soccer program,” said Lady Eagles coach Jon Beardsley. “Tonight, they all got great minutes, and they all contributed in the win. The fans really came out and really supported the kids. It was a great sight to see.”

Fillmore went on to outshoot Friendship/Scio (3-9-1) by a 24-3 count, with Preslee Miller making all three stops for the Lady Eagles in the blank. On the other side, Nevaeh Ross and Karlee Cochran combined to make 17 saves for the visitors.

The Lady Eagles hit the road for a massive contest on Monday, as they get set to battle the Gananda Lady Blue Panthers — winners of five of their last six, in a 6:30 p.m. first kick.

Friendship/Scio will head back home to Friendship for a 2 p.m. first kick of their own against visiting Franklinville.

BOYS SOCCER

Bolivar-Richburg 1, Cuba-Rushford 0

BOLIVAR — The Wolverines of Bolivar-Richburg polished the net with 10 big shots on the cage while defense provided some rock solid defense back the other way, as they were able to come away with the night’s lone goal to grab the upper hand on Cuba-Rushford to perform a season sweep with a 1-0 shutout at Dunsmore-Latimer Field on Thursday.

The goal came just over six minutes gone in the opening half for the Wolverines (9-3-2), collecting it from Aydin Sisson who was fed a pass from the middle by Reiss Gaines to break the ice with a big crack to split away from the reach of Cuba-Rushford for the next 74 minutes on the field, keeping their lead in tact for good while the defense maintained discipline the rest of the way.

In goal, David Abdo made both stops he saw on goal for Bolivar-Richburg to earn the shutout, while four saves were made by Jarrett Campbell on the other end for the Rebels (5-7-1).

Both teams will have Genesee Valley/Belfast up next on their slate, with Bolivar-Richburg getting first crack on the road Saturday night in a 6:30 p.m. first kick in Belfast. The Rebels will host the same Genesee Valley/Belfast team after the weekend with a 5 p.m. contest on Tuesday.