soccer

The S.C. Genesee Lancers Women's team, which became the first local soccer team to be promoted to the Premier Division in the RDSL (Rochester District Soccer League - which is the oldest league in the U.S.A.) is off to a great start in 2009.

The ladies played a tough 0-0 draw against the Canal City (Wheatland) Courage on Wednesday night. The team had many chances but just could put one away. After gaining the tie in their first game of the season, it didn't get any easier as the Lancers traveled to play the Greece Cobras on Saturday morning. The Cobras are a very good and established Premier team. The Lancers were missing 8 players for the match to boot.

The Cobras would score twice in the first four minutes, but the Lancers hung tough and Lindsay Wellspeak (Alexander/FLCC) would steal a ball from the Cobras defeneder and walk in on a breakaway and score with just 7 minutes left in the half go get the Lancers only down 2-1 at half.

In the second half the Lancers took it to the Cobras, with Wellspeak getting goal #2 off a great assist from Megan Baker (Kendall/St. John Fisher). Just moments later Kasey Welch (Byron-Bergen/Naz), coming of ACL surgery and making her return, would score off a wild scramble in front of the net after a Robin Blaun (Elba/SUNY Brockport) assist. The Cobras would tie the game at 3, but with 12 minutes left, Blaun would send a streaking Jessie Jaszko (Batavia/GCC) in on a breakway to score, sealing the 4-3 win. Caitlin Dilal (Mercy/Robert Morris) would make 9 saves in goal for the win, and the Lancers defense led by Jenna Ferrando (Leroy/Buffalo State) and Audrey Rath (Medina/Alfred State) were great all day.

The ladies are now 1-0-1 in Premier play and next up is the much anticipated Cup game vs. Greece Eclipse, Tuesday, June 2 at Lions Park in Batavia. Come out and support them! The team is sponsored by SJ Starowitz, TF Browns, and Lewis and Lewis, P.C.

The SC Genesee Lancers u19 Team took first place at both the 5th Annual Red Creek Indoor Tournament March 21 and the 2nd Annual Amanda Mabon Memorial Tournament in Elba on Sunday, March 22.

At Red Creek, the ladies went 4-0-1 on the day, finishing with a 9-1 crushing of host Red Creek in the final.

On Sunday, at the 2nd Annual Amanda Madon Memorial Tournament, the ladies were dominating all day, going 5-0-1 and defeating the Souther Tier Flash FC in the final 6-1.

Team members for the weekend were Jenna Ferrando, Alesha Amend, Audrey Rath, Jenn Lonnen, Kelsey Fenton, Jessie Jaszko, Brittany Hein, Stacy Hein, Leslie George, Julia Medwid, Emily Starowitz, Lindsay Wellspeak, and Brittany Luckey. The team is coached by Chris Chilano.

Goal Scores were Britt any Luckey with 12. Alesha Amend and Julia Medwid with 5 each. Jessie Jaszko and Lin Wellspeak each tallied 3. Stacy Hein, Kelsey Fenton, and Emily Starowitz with 2 each, and Jenn Lonnen and Jenna Ferrando each with 1. Hein also posted a shutout in her only game in goal, and Leslie George had 4 shutouts in goal going 8-0-2 over the weekend in net.

Alexander played in the Newark Varsity tournament on the Sunday before MLK day and came away with a solid performance.  Alexander started the day with a 2-1 win over Gananda with goals from Anna Dominick and Julia Pettys with Gabby Kwiatek picking up an assist.  Alexander then beat North Rose Wolcott 1-0 on a goal from Dominick.  In the final game of the round robin Alexander fell to Pal-Mac 1-0.  Alexander was the 2nd seed from their group and Pal-Mac was the top seed with a 3-0 record.

In the other bracket Addison cruised to a 3-0 record and the top seed while Newark was 2-1 with their only loss a 3-0 beating from Addison.

Alexander and Addison played in the semi-finals and Addison jumped out to a 1-0 lead.  Dominick tied it at one but Addison took the kickoff and went right down the floor and fired a shot in to go ahead 2-1.  Alexander was unable to come back again and feel 2-1.  Newark then beat Pal-Mac 1-0 in the other semi-final and in the rematch from the earlier in the day Addison won 1-0 in OT.

Alexander's roster was Sopomore keeper Hannah Wilson, Junior defender Jamie Neth, Sophomore defender Savannah VanSon, 8th grade defender Gabby Kwiatek, Sophomore midfielders Autumn Atkinson and Tessa Bigelow, Junior forward Anna Dominick, Sophomore forwards Megan Schmieder and Morgan Mattice, and 9th grade forward Julia Pettys.

The Genesee Lancers (Chilano) took hom the Medina U19 tournament title with a 3-1 win over Alexander in the final game.  The Lancers scored seconds into the final to take a 1-0 lead.  Alexander scored a few minutes after that to knot the score at one a piece.  The Lancers would score just before the midway mark to make the score 2-1.  Just after the mdiway mark the Lancers scored a 3rd goal to go ahead 3-1 which was the final score.  It was a very competitive final game with some great soccer to watch.  Both teams moved the ball well and had some great chances on goal.

During the earlier games of the tournament Alexander clinched the top seed with a 3-0 record with a 1-0 win over the Lancers (Hein), a 3-1 win over the YMCA/ND team and a 1-0 win over Gananda.  The Lancers (Chilano) earned the #2 seed with wins over GVBBSC and Attica and a loss to Albion.  Albion was the #3 seed with a win over the Lancers (Chilano), a tie against Attica, and a loss to GVBBSC.  The Lancers (Hein) earned the 4th seed with a loss to Alexander, a tie against Gananda, and a win over the YMCA/ND team.  Gananda had a solid day as well with a tie against the Lancers (Hein), a win over YMCA/ND, and a loss to Alexander.  The Lancers (Hein) earned the 4th seed thanks to a slight tiebreaker advantage over Gananda.

In the 1st round of the playoffs the Lancers (Chilano) avenged their loss to Albion with a 3-0 win in the 1st semi-final game.  Alexander knocked off the Lancers (Hein) 2-0 to earn their spot in the final.

Alexander's roster included sophomores goal keeper Hannah Wilson, sophomore defenders Savannah VanSon, Summer Bliss, and Claire Hartl, sophomore midfielders Tessa Bigelow and Autumn Atkinson, sophomore forwards Kylie Bank, Amber Finan, and Ashley Szymanski, and 8th grade defender Gabby Kwiatek.

Pavilion had the second best record in Livingston Conference and allowed just 17 goals in 1,420 minutes played. Although his team went just 8-8-3, the senior earned first-team all-state honors as a goalie in Class C.

Perry's Lucas Pachuta is a second-team attacker in Class C with 31 goals and 10 helpers. His Yellowjackets went 12-5-2.

Garhett Varin is a first team selection in Class D with 27 goals and 13 assists. Goalie Tony Pipitone is a second team selection as a goalie, giving up just 16 goals in 1,765 minutes in net. The Wildcats won a section straight sectional championship with a 19-4 record.

Le Roy's Brittany Luckey is a fourth-team midfielder in Class B. She had 12 goals and 22 assists this seas as the Oatkan Knights won a sectional championship.

The S.C. Genesee Lancers United Women's team is the first local adult soccer team, men's or women's, to play in the Premier Division of the RDSL (Rochester District Soccer League). They qualified for the premier division by having and overall record of 12-1-5 during the 2008 season in the First Division. The Lancers are comprised of 21 players from the GR and Livingston County region, with many players currently playing college or HS soccer. 

Things start in the back with by GK Caitlin Dilal, a graduate of Mercy HS and currently the starting GK for NCAA D-1 Robert Morris University. On Defense, the ladies are led by NCAA 2-time WNYAC and 3-time Livingston Conference 1st teamer Jenna Ferrando. Joining her in the back are 3 year Lancers captain and 5 year starter Pam Barchet, as well as Audrey Rath (Medina HS/Alfred State), and former Canisius and Batavia HS alumni Jen Eick. Jamie Braswell (RIT/Leroy HS), Val Zarcone (SUNY Oswego/Bergen HS), Alesha Amend (GCC/Alexander HS), and Jenn Lonnen (Albion HS/Alleghany College) round out the defense.

The midfield is led by Robin Blaun, a 4-year member of the SUNY Brockport team and has been Lancers United Captain for 5 years. Joining her is Brittany Luckey, who this past year was Livingston Conference player of the year, as well as Section V Class B Sectional MVP, and made the All-Greater Section V second team. Britt will be joining NCAA Junior College powerhouse Monroe Community College in the fall of 2009. Rounding out the midfield are Captain Megan Baker (St. John Fisher/Kendall HS), Katy Mullen (GCC/Bergen HS), Julia Medwid (SUNY Fredonia/Alexander HS), Emilie Rath (Medina HS), Kelsey Fenton (GCC/Pembroke HS), and Emily Starowitz (FLCC/Bergen HS),

The Lancers attackers are strong with plenty of firepower, led by United's all time leading scorer Kate Welch (Naz/Pavilion HS). Joining her up top are the NCJAA Second Team All-American from 2008 Lindsay Wellspeak (FLCC/Alexander HS), Jessie Jaszko (MCC/Batavia HS), and Kasey Welch (Naz/Bergen HS).

The team will compete with some of the best Women's teams in the State in the RDSL Premier Division, as well as the RDSL Cup, which last year they not only became the first local team to qualify for, but won their quarterfinal game, and in the semi's took the #1 Seed Rochester Lazers to double OT and penalty kicks before bowing out.

The Ladies are coached by Chris Chilano, and sponsored by T.F. Brown's, Fenton's Farm Produce,  and S.J. Starowitz, and play for the S.C. Genesee Lancers club, based in Batavia. You can access all their information, including schedules, at www.geneseelancers.com. The ladies look for all your support in 2009!

Wheatland-Chili senior forward was not only the Genesee Region League Player of the Year, and a sectional champion; he was named to the All-Greater  Rochester first-team by the Democrat & Chronicle.

Varin led W-C to a 19-4 record and a second consecutive sectional championship, while scoring 27 goals with 13 assists. He finished his high school career with 51 goals and 31 assists.

Teammate Tony Pipitone made the second-team as a goalie.

The GR also had a bunch of honorable mention selections.

Steve Abbey (Wheatland-Chili), Dakota Longhini (Byron-Bergen), Jordan Kiessling (B-B), Jason Gaylord (Kendall), Brandon Moore (Kendall), Paul Brightly (Kendall), Andy Hagen (Attica), Brandon Reiner (Attica), Tyler Silversmith (Lyndonville), Joe Ianni (Lyndonville), Jordon O'Connor (Lyndonville), Colton Orbaker (Holley), Eric Spychalski (Holley), Nick Troup (Holley), Brandon Comden (Holley). 

You can see the entire All-Greater Rochester list here.

Wheatland-Chili's Garhett Varin led his squad to an 18-3 record and the Section 5 Class DD championship this past soccer season.

The senior had 25 goals with 11 assists and earned Genesee Region League Player of the Year, which was announced by The Batavian in our GR all-star write-up on Oct. 29.

 The Democrat & Chronicle lists the Players of the Year for each league in Section 5 this morning.

Wheatland-Chili senior attacker Garhett Varin of Wheatland-Chili had 61 points, 25 goals and 11 assists, in leading his team to an 18-3 record to date and the Section V Class DD championship. He had five goals and an assist in the sectionals. Wheatland also beat Andover 2-1 in the State Class D Qualifier Game.

You can see the entire roundup of Players of the Year here.

Senior midfielder Brittany Luckey had a fantastic high school soccer career, and will be ending it with a second big honor.

The five-year starter for Le Roy had already won Livingston Conference Division I Player of the Year and now is named to the All-Greater Rochester second-team by the Democrat & Chronicle today.

Luckey was a three-time captain for the Oatkan Knights, who won the Section 5 Class B title this season. Well, actually shared it with Greece Odyssey after playing to a 0-0 tie. Odyssey moved on to the state tournament after winning a shootout.

Luckey scored 31 goals and had 81 assists in her high school career and led Le Roy to a sectional title three times in five seasons. The Oatkan Knights went 12-2-6 this season. She scored 12 goals with 22 helpers this season.

No other local players made the AGR first or second team, but 17 players received honorable mentions for the Genesee Region League.

Julie Brooks (Holley), Hannah Wilson (Alexander), Abby Shilvock (Alexander), Lindsey Hall (Alexander), Christina West (Attica), Corinne VanSchoick (Holley), Rachel Warren (Pembroke), Rachel Pettys (Alexander), Chloe Smith (Wheatland-Chili), Emily Troup (Holley), Hillary Bates (Oakfield-Alabama), Julie Marshall (Elba), Todne Crowe (Byron-Bergen), Kaila Browe (Kendall), Chelsi Clark (Elba), Stacy Maskell (Byron-Bergen), Nicole Sharick (Pembroke).

Stacy Hein of Batavia received an honorable mention for Monroe County. You can check out the entire All-Greater Rochester girls team here.

 There is that photo again.

The front page of Tuesday's Daily News sports has basically the same photo as the Genesee Region League girls soccer all-stars, just a team photo. I have never been a fan.

But again, Daily News sportswriter Alana Stage writes a stat-packed roundup of the GR boys soccer all-stars. She leads with the Wheatland-Chili squad that went 19-3 and are Class DD champions. 

The Batavian also led with the Wildcats in our roundup of all-stars, which ran on Oct. 29.

The winter high school season is just getting going, so this is the only local information in today's paper.

We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

 In Friday's Daily News, the photo and roundup of Genesee Region League girls all-stars are the main focus of the front page of sports.

A nice roundup of the players, featuring the Division I champion Holley Hawks, pretty much fills the page.

The Batavian led with Division II champion Wheatland-Chili in our roundup of all-stars, posted on Oct. 22.

The writeup is packed with information, but features the boring team photo that just about every all-star team roundup has had for, oh, ever. I think most would prefer headshots or action photos from the season.

That's the only local sports because the winter sports teams are still getting ready for the season, but there is a cool AP story on the Syracuse football team on B-4. AP sportswriter John Kekis writes about how little has changed since it was announced coach Greg Robinson was fired and will be replaced at the end of the season.

Any Syracuse football fan will admit that the program was in dire need of a change as Robinson was never able to turn the team into a winner. The Orange are currently 2-8.

We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

The Alexander Girl's Soccer team outplayed many peoples predictions and gave Geneseo all they could handle in the 2nd round of the class C sectionals and lead 1-0 at halftime, but Geneseo came from behind in the 2nd half and put two in the net to win the game 2-1 and move on to the semi-finals to face York.

Geneseo came out hot in the 1st half and peppered the Alexander goal with shots but only a few found the target and were turned away by Sophomore goalie Hannah Wilson.  Alexander struggled with Geneseo's formation in the first 15 minutes and had to make an adjustment, but settled down after the inital Geneseo flury and played quite well from there on out.

Alexander struck first on their first good chance of the game as Junior Anna Dominick found her sister 8th grade Midfielder Maria Dominick on a cross to put Alexander up 1-0 with 10 minutes left in the first half.  Alexander held the lead into halftime and knew they were in for a fight in the 2nd half.

Alexander held strong for the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half but #14 finally got lose down the left flank and crossed a ball that just eluded a leaping Wilson at the near post and was ran into the goal by #3.  Alexander didn't back down and kept working hard all over the field.  With #11 on the bench Alexander saw the 2nd goal find their net as #2 had a great little play inside the 18 and fired it inside the right post to make it 2-1.  Alexander kept attacking but just couldn't get a ball in a dangerous spot.  Anna Dominick had a cross that was grabbed by the keeper with 5 minutes left and Alexander had 2 corners in the final 2 minutes but couldn't get either in a dangerous spot.

Lost in the scoreline was the play of 8th grade marking defender Abby Shilvock who held Sarah Bono (who has 23 goals this year) to under 5 shots on net throughout the game.  Shilvock seemed to be inside Bono's head reading her moves and winning the ball throughout the game.  Sophomore Tessa Bigelow did an equally strong job on #10 from Geneseo who is another fantastic player.

Great performances were turned in by Sophomore defender Savannah VanSon, 8th grade defender Gabby Kwiatek, 11th grade defender Leah Johnson, 10th grade midfielders Claire Hartl and Autumn Atkinson, 9th grade midfielder Julia Pettys, and Senior Midfielder Rachel Pettys.  Great minutes were contributed by 10th grade Mid Ashley Szymanski and 10th grade forward Morgan Mattice off the bench.

Congrats to Geneseo on a great game and a great season.  I am very proud of the way that all my girls played in this game, you all really stepped up to the plate in this game and gave Geneseo all they could handle.  Great job to all of you - you should be very proud.

Alexander came away with a 2-0 win over Perry at Wheatland-Chili Tuesday night in what was less than ideal weather.  Williamson and Canisteo-Greenwood had played before at 5pm and the field was in very good condition despite the game prior to ours.

We cut our warmup shorter than usual to avoid getting completely soaked before the game even started and hoped to come out quick.  We attacked right away and put some pressure on Perry's net with 5 shots in the first 8 minutes of the game.  Alexander went ahead 1-0 as Junior Anna Dominick crossed the ball to Senior Rachel Pettys and she fired a shot high in the far left corner to make the score 1-0 in the 11th minute of the game.  Alexander dominated possession in the 1st half and had several chances to go on top 2-0 but none found the back of the net.

Alexander came out in the 2nd half and continued to dominate possession but could not find the net, as has been the case all year long.  Perry had some dangerous moments and had 5 corners in the game but Alexander's defense stood strong and Sophomore goalie Hannah Wilson came up big on several saves throughout the game to earn her 7th shutout of the year.

A trio of sophomores did a great job in the middle, none of which started at the beginning of the year.  Morgan Mattice, Claire Hartl, and Ashley Szymanski logged all the minutes in the center of the pitch, won a majority of the headers, and had some great quick movement of the ball in and out of the field.  9th grader Julia Pettys and 8th grader Abby Shilvock were both moved from the positions they have played all year to the outside mids and did a fantastic job creating as Alexander saw a great improvement in the overall play of their midfield.

Alexander iced the game with 55 seconds left as Julia Pettys sent a cross from the left side of the field to Anna Dominick who settled, took a touch and beat the keeper high over her to give Alexander the 2-0 lead.

Alexander's defense played qutie well and was lead by Sophomore Savannah VanSon who logged her 19th straight start at sweeper and kept things organized.  8th grader Gabby Kwiatek, Junior Leah Johnson, and Sophomore Tessa Bigelow all did a great job in front her sticking with marks despite difficult footing throughout the game.

8th grader Maria Dominick and Senior Rachel Nielans both contributed key minutes at outside mid throughout the game.

Alexander's record improves to 9-6-4 on the season and they move on to play Geneseo on Friday at 6pm in Geneseo.  Geneseo is ranked in the top 10 in the state in the last poll that was released.

Chrissy Rennard was a rising star for the Attica girls soccer team last season as a freshman. She was the second leading scorer on the team.

But this year she has been slowed by an ankle injury and hasn't produced like she would like.

But it looks like she's back at the right time, and that's a good thing for the Blue Devils.

Attica is the No. 8 seed in the Section 5 Class BB tournament and because of Rennard's two goals and assist will be moving on to face No. 1 Hornell on Saturday because the Blue Devils topped No. 9 Dansville in the opening round 5-1.

Christina West, Kelsey Talley and Chelsea Lynch also scored and Attica improves to 2-13-4.

Oakfield-Alabama, Byron-Bergen, Alexander, Pembroke, Kendall and Lyndonville are all also playing sectional games tonight and results will be posted on the Section 5 Web site as they come in.

Alexander and Holley played to a 0-0 tie Thursday and Holley earned the Division 1 title with the tie.  It was a great defensive game from both sides and arguably the two most skilled goalies in the league showed why they have earned that reputation as they each had one huge save to keep the other team off the scoreboard.  Hannah Wilson stopped Holley's Emily Troup with a quick reaction save diving to her left to get a hand on a shot that Troup ripped from 10 yards and Wilson collected the rebound to keep Holley off the board in the 1st half.  Julie Brooks stopped Alexander late in the game on a scramble in front of the net that was eventually cleared by a defender to keep Alexander from sneaking in a late goal to steal the win.

It was a very even game with both teams keeping fantastic shape in the back and holding strong on their marking to only give up a handful of shots.  Alexander will be the 6th seed in Class C Sectionals and Holley looks to be the 4th seed in Class B Sectionals.