Down by a goal, Aquila, Lady Jags turn 2nd half tide, leave Belfast shot-less to complete 2-1 comeback win

Written By Chris Brooks

BELFAST — For the first time this season, the Lady Bulldogs of Belfast and Lady Jaguars of Genesee Valley did battle in Allegany County’s final game of the day at the Rich Sullivan Athletic Complex. It was a game that turned into the tale of two halves between both teams on Saturday.

In the first half, Belfast took control with the lead in hand. But in the next, it was Genesee Valley’s turn. Not only did the Lady Jaguars take over the entire 40 minute period, the defense put together perhaps their strongest outing on the field to hold the Lady Bulldogs without a single shot while capitalizing on two of their own to snag the lead away from the hosts for good in the last 10 minutes to secure a 2-1 comeback victory on Halloween afternoon.

“This was a very ugly win,” said Lady Jaguars coach Lisa Scott-Schneider. “We were missing our midfield today, and that’s not an excuse. It’s our second game with our new alignment. We just did not come ready to compete, but we had much better energy in the second half. I hate Saturday games because you don’t really know what other teams do prior to the weekday dismissal from schools. It is nice to be 6-3 at the end of the day.”

Before Genesee Valley (6-3) had to find a way to come back from behind, they had to battle through what was a first half that Belfast enriched with their multiple opportunities on the Lady Jaguars goal, with their first coming from Abby Sullivan who dug the ball loose from a scrum in front to apply a shot on goal. But no damage was done, as Ashley Burrows dove across to make the save for the visitors.

With the midfield battle between the two teams raging on through most of the half, the Lady Bulldogs (6-3) were ultimately the first team to get on the board first with 16:30 left on the clock. Alicia Borden set it up with a corner kick opportunity in the far corner of the offensive zone, lofting her shot where it found a skip to Mary Hamer, who lofted a shallow shot up and into the Genesee Valley net to break the ice for the hosts in red.

Belfast would go on to score three straight corner kick opportunities after the Hamer goal, with the latter of which falling in front of the Genesee Valley goal where the Lady Bulldogs took whacks at the ball in efforts to jam it in for a lead extension, but Burrows came up big again for the Lady Jaguars to keep the ball out, and their deficit at one entering halftime.

During the break, Scott-Schneider and her girls had a team meeting.

“Ashley kept us in it with huge saves in the first half. We had a lack of energy, and a lack of focus in the first half. You could tell. But we had a little inspiration come in the second half, and that was all on the girls. I told them at halftime that I didn’t know where my defense was, and that they were better than that. And then, they got together themselves, and they had a discussion after I got done talking with them at halftime. They found it within themselves to turn it around, and we had the wind in our favor as well in the second half. Scoring two goals in 15 minutes, a win is a win at this juncture.”

The Genesee Valley defense, after going through a few rough patches in the first half, buckled down in the final 40 minutes of play and used every bit of that time to hold the Belfast offense at a complete standstill. On the flip side, they would take advantage of their offensive gameplay to connect on back-to-back corner kick chances. Although the chances were unsuccessful, the pressure still began to mount past the midway mark, which ultimately led to the Lady Jaguars finding a way to crack through.

Emera Aquila provided both goals for Genesee Valley in the last 10 minutes of play, with her first coming from a pass that was dug out by Lauren Haggstrom in front of the Belfast goal, sending along her pass to Aquila to tie the game at one. With 5:24 left in regulation, Aquila was credited with the go-ahead goal to remove Belfast from the driver’s seat, taking advantage of a miscommunication in front of the goal that saw the ball take a redirection off her initial shot. The ball bounced over the head of Kaitlin Sadler in goal, and into the net to pull the Lady Jaguars ahead.

“I felt like we were building and building up our momentum, right up to the moment where we finally managed to crack through late,” said Scott-Schneider. “That’s how soccer works, and it can be such a cruel game. But that’s how it is. You can build up, and you can never have that chance to put it in the back of the net.”

And with both goals, Genesee Valley finished off a comeback on offense while completing their shutout on defense. The Lady Jaguars took the 11-5 advantage in the shots department, with Burrows earning the win behind four saves. Sadler made nine stops on the other end for the Lady Bulldogs.

Both teams are in action on Wednesday over the road, as Genesee Valley looks to keep their winning ways going into Hinsdale for a 5:30 p.m. matchup with the Lady Bobcats, while Belfast aims to get back on track with a 6 p.m. visit to Andover/Whitesville for potentially, the Allegany County Division II title at 6 p.m.

Chris Brooks
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