soccer

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.

Holley beat Kendall 1-0 at home Tuesday night to move into 1st place for the first time this year.  It is the first time Holley has been in 1st place alone in quite a while (i would guess 3 or 4 years).  Holley currently sits 10-2-2 with 1 game left (@ Alexander Thursday) while Pembroke sits 10-3-1 with 1 game left (@ Attica Thursday).  With a tie or win by Holley or a loss or tie by Pembroke Holley will be division champs.  Pembroke needs a win and a Holley loss to win the division.  This is the first time since 2004 that the division title has gone down to the last day of the season.

Goal was scored by Emily Troup on a rebound.  Congrats to Coach Mann and the Holley Hawks

Final week of GR Soccer for the year and here are the standings:

Division i:

1) Pembroke - 10-3-1 (@ Attica)

2) Holley - 9-2-2 (Kendall, @Alexander)

3) Alexander - 8-4-2 (Holley)

4) Byron-Bergen - 8-4-1 (Attica, Kendall)

5) Kendall - 5-7-1 (@Holley, @ Bergen)

6) Attica - 1-9-3 (@BB, Pembroke)

Pembroke and Holley are the only two teams with a chance to win the division outright, but Bergen can still become co-champs.  Alexander was eliminated from title contention with the loss to Bergen Friday.  I am a big nerd when it comes to standings and such so I will try to make this really simple so anyone can understand it.  Pembroke and Holley are easy.

Pembroke wins the league if they win their final game and Holley must lose either of their final 2 games.  Holley holds the tiebreaker over Pembroke because they beat them and tied them.

Holley wins the league if they regardless of what Pembroke does if they manage a win and a tie in their last two games because they hold the tiebreaker over Pembroke.  If Pembroke loses their final game Holley would need only one tie in their final 2 to win the league.  If Pembroke ties their final game Holley would need to either win one of their final two games are tie both.

Bergen can become co-champs if they win their last two games, Pembroke loses their last game and Holley loses both of their last 2 games.  This would leave Pembroke 10-4-1, Bergen 10-4-1, and Holley 9-4-2.  Pembroke and Bergen would be co-champs because they split the season 1 win a piece and they have identical division records.

If Holley, Pembroke, and Bergen all finished tied (Pembroke loses their final game, Bergen wins both of their final games, and Holley ties on game and loses another) it would leave them all with 21 points.  In this senario Holley would win the title because they hold the tie breaker over Bergen (2 wins) and Pembroke (1 win and 1 tie).

Division II:

1) Wheatland-Chili 10-2-1 (Lyndonville)

2) Elba 7-3-3 (@ ND)

3) Lyndonville - 4-7-3 (@Oak, @ WC)

4) Oakfield-Alabama - 1-10-1 (Lyndonville, ND)

5) Batavia Notre Dame - 0-12 (Elba, @ OA)

The order of finish is all set here.  With a win Wheatland will win the overall league title.

I will post a sectional preview for the league once the seedings come out at the end of the week.  Wheatland and Holley both have solid chances to go deep in the playoffs in my opinion.  Pembroke has a very difficult bracket (Wheatlands is no piece of cake either).  Kendall and Alexander are in a very thin bracket but both will have to step up their games to make any noise in sectionals.

Alexander lost for the 2nd time this week by a 1-0 score, this time to Byron-Bergen.  The loss dropped Alexander to 4th place in the league and 6th place in Class C Secional standings.

Alexander didn't get much going offensively in the game getting only one shot on goal during the game.  Goalkeeper Hannah Wilson made 12 saves in goal including a couple acrobatic saves in the 1st half to keep the game close.

Bergen scored their goal on a great dribbling play up the middle by #13 midway through the 2nd half.

Alexander closes out the season against Holley at home next Thursday.  Holley beat Pembroke 1-0 on Friday meaning if Holley can win @ Kendall and @ Alexander next week they will claim the Division 1 title.

The Alexander Girl's soccer team was all but eliminated from the Division 1 title race after tieing Kendall 2-2 Wednesday at home.  Pembroke knocked off Bergen 3-0 and Holley knocked off Attica 1-0 moving Attica into 2nd place and Alexander into 3rd.

Alexander jumped out to an early 2 goal lead thanks to a header by Anna Dominick off a corner from Autumn Atkinson in the 11th minute and a header by Tessa Bigelow on a cross from Amber Finan in the 13th minute.  Kendall came right back as Kayla Browe shot a ball in off the crossbar and in just a minute later to make it 2-1.  With 12 minutes left in the half it was 2-2 as Kendall fired another shot high and in the far corner.

In the 2nd half Kendall was dominant for the first 35 minutes outworking Alexander and controlling play.  Kendall rang 3 balls off the crossbar in the half and was very unlucky not to put one in the net.  Alexander came alive in the last 5 minutes of the game and had two chances to go up 3-2 but couldn't find the net.

The OT came and went without a goal.  Alexander had more possession in OT but couldn't put a ball in the net and the game finished 2-2.

Hannah Wilson had a strong game in goal making 11 saves and getting her hands on several crosses to kill Kendall attacks before they got a shot off.

 There is a very interesting race going on in Genesee Region League girls soccer.

There is a three-way race for the goal scoring title and a two-way race for the goal scoring title. It is mixed with players from Division I and II.

Wheatland-Chili's Lauren Drago has 20 goals and 12 assists, for 52 points to lead Division II. 

The Wildcats are currently 9-2 and lead Division II. Elba is second at 6-3-2.

W-C is the most potent scoring team in the division as Taylor Smith is third in the division with 13 goals and eight assists for 34 points.

Carrie Grande is fourth with eight goals and nine helpers, for 25 points.

Drago is currently one goal behind Pembroke's Nicole Sharick for the goal scoring title. Sharick leads all GR scorers with 21 goals, but has nine assists and is at 51 total points, one behind Drago.

The Dragons are in first in Division I with a 9-2-1 record with  Alexander in second at 8-3-1.

Alexander's leading scorer is Rachel Pettys, who is eighth with seven goals, two assists and 16 points.

Byron-Bergen's Stacy Maskell and Holley's Emily Troup are tied for second in scoring with nine goals, three assists and 21 points apiece.

Elba's Chelsi Clark is just one goal behind Drago and Sharick with 19. She also has five assists for 43 points.

You can check out all of the scoring leaders for Division I here and Division II here. 

Pembroke and Alexander squared off in Pembroke Monday with sole possession of 1st place on the line and Pembroke came away with a well earned 1-0 victory in a hard fought game.  The 1st half saw only two real scoring chances, one by Pembroke which rang off the crossbar and one by Alexander that was blown offsides (quite possibly incorrectly) on a direct kick from midfield.  Pembroke had the better of the posession in the 1st half but neither team generated many good looks on the goal.

The 2nd half was a highly entertaining half which saw both teams create several scoring chances with none finding the net.  Alexander's 8th grade defender Abby Shilvock had Pembroke's top scorer Nicole Sharrick under wraps for the majority of the game as Sharrick only managed to put a couple dangerous crosses at the front of the net throughout the game.

In a 8 minute span in the middle of the 2nd half Alexander had 6 shots from inside the 18 but didn't strike any of them that well and none managed to find their way into the net.  Pembroke had a couple crosses that went through the 6 yard box on the ground but none of them were connected on the back post.

With both teams playing at such a high level it was going to take a mistake or fantastic shot for either team to put a goal in the back of the net.  With just over 3 minutes left in the game both happened on the same play.  An Alexander defender committed an unnecessary foul near the right sideline about 18 yards off the endline and the direct kick was fired in at the far post.  Goalkeeper Hannah Wilson couldn't get enough on her jump and the ball found the far side netting to give Pembroke a 1-0 lead.  Alexander pushed everything forward for the last 3 minutes but was unable to get a ball in the net.

It was a very even game overall with both teams accounting for 3 corners, around 8 saves for each goalie, and around 12 shots on goal.  It was a fantastic game, congrats to Pembroke on the hard fought win.  They are alone atop the GR standings 1 game ahead of Alexander (and they also hold the tiebreaker) with 3 games remaining for each team.  Holley is a game and a half behind with 4 to play and Bergen is 2 behind with 5 games remaining.

Here are the standings with 2 weeks to go:

Division 1 (games this week in parenthesis)

1) Pembroke 8-2-1 (Alexander, Bergen, Holley)

2) Alexander 8-2-1 (@ Pembroke, Kendall, Bergen)

3) Holley 7-2-2 (Attica, @ Pembroke)

4) Byron-Bergen 6-3-1 (Lyndonville, @ Pembroke, @ Alexander)

5) Kendall 3-7 (Attica, @ Alexander, @ Attica)

6) Attica 1-6-3 (@ Kendall, @ Holley, Kendall)

Division 2

1) Wheatland-Chili 9-2 (@ND, Elba)

2) Elba 6-3-2 (Oakfield, @ WC)

3) Lyndonville 3-6-1 (@ Bergen, ND)

4) Oakfield-Alabama 1-9-1 (@ Elba)

5) Batavia Notre Dame 0-10 (Wheatland, @ Lyndonville)

Every game is a big one this week with losses causing the top teams to fall off the pace with no time to catch up.  Biggest games are probably Alexander @ Pembroke  (Pembroke won the first game 1-0), Elba @ Wheatland (Elba won 3-2 first time around), Bergen @ Alexander (they tied 2-2 the first time), Holley @ Pembroke (tied 0-0 the first time).  If any of the top 4 teams in division 1 sweep their games this week they should be in 1st alone on Friday.

 The Alexander girls soccer team had some key players out with injury and had to fight through the rain and the cold wind that Genesee Community College's fields produce, but gained the experience of playing in those conditions to beat host Notre Dame 5-0.

The Trojans lead Division I of the Genesee Region League with an 8-4-2 record.

While the temperatures were cold at the start of the game, it didn't take long before the wind picked up and the rain started coming down. 

The conditions led to some sloppy play over the first 10 minutes or so, and both squads had opportunities to score off corner kicks but were not able to convert.

But Alexander settled in and took over after a few minutes.

Sophomore midfielder Tessa Bigelow took a pass from freshman forward Julia Pettys and scored 11:53 in.

Pettys then scored 14 minutes later to give the Trojans a firm 2-0 advantage.

Morgan Mattice scored 29:21 in off a pass by Savannah VanSon.

Exchange student Anni Lehtola pitched in a second half goal and Pettys assisted another Mattice goal in the closing moments.

Hannah Wilson only needed to stop one shot to earn the shutout for Alexander.

Notre Dame keeper Nicole Guilds stopped 10 shots in the contest as the Fighting Irish fall to 1-10.

Updated with video. Sorry for the poor sound quality. The wind was out of control.

For the 2nd time this year Alexander slipped by Attica 1-0, this time at Attica.  The 1st half saw neither team put a shot on goal and the score was 0-0.  In the 2nd half an Alexander player was fouled on the left sideline about 30 yards from goal.  Senior Midfielder Rachel Pettys sent the direct kick into the center of the box and an Attica defender attempted to head it clear, however her clearance went into the top left corner of the net giving Alexander the 1-0 lead.  Alexander had two players directly behind the defender so she had no choice but to try to clear it, it was just a bad bounce.

Alexander had a chance to go on top 2-0 when Freshman forward Julia Pettys got through the defense on a breakway with around 10 minutes left but the Attica keeper came up with the save.  Alexander had another chance to go up 2-0 with around 5 minutes left when Sophmore Savannah VanSon sent a corner kick in and Sophmore Morgan Mattice ripped a header that went about a foot wide of the left post.

Attica had a chance tie the game with under 2 minutes left when Chrissy Rennard had header from 8 yards but put it right at the Hannah Wilson who made the save.  Wilson also came charging out of the goal midway through the 2nd half and broke up a potential breakway 20 yards from goal by clearing an errant pass from a defender.

Alexander improves to 7-4-2 overall and 7-2-1 in the league.  Alexander was lead in the back by Sophmore central defender Savannah VanSon who did a solid job keeping Attica away from goal and Sophmore keeper Hannah Wilson who only need to make 5 saves in goal picking up her 7th win and 4th shutout of the season.

Holley knocked off Byron-Bergen 2-1 last night as well meaning that Alexander, Pembroke, Byron-Bergen, and Holley all have 2 losses and 1 tie in the league making all 4 teams virtually tied atop the Division 1 standings with 2 and a half weeks left in the GR season.

Updated GR Girls Soccer Standings.  Things are starting to play out.  I organized them this week by the loss and tie column, fewer losses and ties get you a higher spot because that is what will matter in the end.  Games this week are in parenthesis

Division I:

1 - Pembroke 5-1-1 (Elba, @ Ken, @ WC, @ OA)

2 - Bergen 4-1-1 (OA, @ Holley, Elba, @ WC)

3 - Alexander - 6-2-1 (@ Attica, @ ND)

4 - Holley - 5-2-1 (BB, OA, Elba)

5 - Attica 1-5-2 (Alex, Lyn)

6 - Kendall - 0-6 (Pem, @ Lyn, @ ND)

Big games this week:  Both Pembroke and BB play @ Wheatland which are huge games in the division 1 race.  Alexander and Holley both lost to Wheatland and if either Pembroke or Holley can beat Wheatland they will have the upper hand going into the final 2 weeks.  Pembroke and Bergen both have Elba at home this week and that will be a tough out for both teams as well.  BB travels to Holley early in the week, Holley beat BB at Bergen earlier in the year.  Pembroke also has to travel to Kendall which is improved from earlier in the season and it is always tough to play in Kendall.  It will be interesting to see the standings one week from today, we could have 4 teams all tied again (Pem, Alex, Holley will all have 11 games played and Bergen will have 10 at the end of this week).  Or someone could have pulled ahead with a good week.

Division II:

1 - Wheatland - 7-1 (@ OA, Pem, BB)

2 - Elba - 4-2-1 (@ Pem, Lyn, @ BB, @ Holley)

3 - Lyndonville 3-4 (@ Elba, Ken, @ Attica)

4 - Oakfield - 1-4-1 (@BB, WC, @ Holley, Pem)

5 - Notre Dame - 0-8 (Alex, Ken)

Big Games: this week only has one big divisional game which is Lyndonville traveling to Elba, Lyndonville knocked off Elba earlier in the year and Elba has been in a bit of a funk ever since.  The other big games are both Wheatland and Elba playing Pembroke and Bergen, if either one manages to win both they will have a huge lead going into the final 2 weeks.  Elba has to travel to Holley which could be a great game as well.

 Curtis Fannon and Justin Barrett had a goal and an assist each in leading Byron-Bergen to an 8-1 win over Attica.

Casey Longhini and Bryan White each scored twice for the Bees (5-5-2).

Alexander had lost 2 in a row, both by 3 goal margains and was in desperate need of a win over Elba to avoid falling further off the pace in the GR Division 1 race.  They did just that with a 3-1 win over the Division 2 leading Elba Lancers.

Alexander went on top early in the game as 9th grader Julia Pettys (just recalled from JV) got a breakaway and fired it on net, it was saved by the Elba keeper, but Junior Anna Dominick ripped the rebound into the net to put Alexander up 1-0 10 minutes into the game.  The lead didn't last long as 5 minutes later as Alexander lost a 50/50 ball in their defensive 3rd on a goal kick and the ball was blasted into the net to tie the game at 1.  The 1st half was full of mistakes by both teams and ended 1-1.

Alexander came out much stronger in the 2nd half and it paid off 8 minutes in as Senior Rachel Pettys sent a cross in from the left side and Dominick beat the goalie to the near post and flicked it over the goalies head and into the net.  The goalie got her hands on the ball but was unable to keep it out of the net.

Alexander Goalie Hannah Wilson made the save of the game moments later as Elba Senior Chelsi Clark (the 2nd leading scorer in the league) sent a rocket on net from 30 yards out, but a leaping Wilson got both hands on it, tipped it into the air, and caught it before an Elba player could get her head on it.

Alexander iced the game with 7 minutes left as Rachel Pettys found her younger sister Julia on a through ball and the younger Pettys went in on a breakaway and calmly tucked the shot inside the left post to make the score 3-1.

Lost in the scoreline was the play of 8th grader Abby Shilvock who marked Clark the entire game and limited her to a handful of shots with only one being dangerous.  Shilvock, who is normally a midfielder, has really taken to her new role in the back and is taking a lot of pressure off of the rest of the defense by being able to take a player out of the other teams attack.

Alexander improves to 6-4-2 overall and 6-2-1 in the league and moves back into 5th place in the Class C Standings.  With 2/3 of the season gone Alexander is showing signs of improvement from their young lineup and if they can continue to show more poise on the ball they should continue to improve.

Brandon Comden scored with just under 10 minutes left in the game to give Holley a 2-0 win over Byron-Bergen in a boys soccer match.

The other Holley tally came on an own goal.

Keith Lutes stopped six shots to earn his first career shutout for the Hawks (5-3-1).

Tyler Sass had 12 saves for B-B (4-5-1). 

Alexander dropped a 4-1 decision to Wheatland in Wheatland on Monday to see their league record drop to 5-2-1 and overall drop to 5-4-1.  The halftime score was 1-1 after Wheatland jumped out to an early 1-0 lead and Alexander tied it with around 10 minutes left to go in the first half.  The first half was very even possession wise but Wheatland had several chances that were saved by Alexander keeper Hannah Wilson in the games opening 10 minutes.

The 2nd half was a different story as Wheatland came out flying and never slowed down.  Wheatland buried a shot off a giveaway in the center of the field 10 minutes into the 2nd half and took only 4 minutes to make the score 3-1 after a great give and go that was finished off by Lauren Drago.  8 minutes after that it was 4-1 and the rout was on after Drago finished off her 2nd goal of the game.

Alexander struggled to complete passes in the 2nd half and Wheatland punished us for every mistake we made.  Alexander's best chance in the 2nd half came on a cross from Anna Dominick to Rachel Pettys but Pettys failed to get off a good strike and the keeper handled it easily.

Alexander's goal was scored by 8th grade midfielder Abby Shilvock.  Alexander finishes their 6 game in 10 day stretch Wednesday when they are home to Elba and are in need of a win to avoid falling further off the pace in the GR Division I race.  Wheatland improves to 7-2 overall and 6-1 in the league and is undefeated against the Division 1 teams in their crossover games thus far.

The current Genesee Region Girl's Soccer Standings as of 9/21/08

Division 1:

Alexander 5-1-1

Holley 4-2-1

Bergen 3-1-1

Pembroke 3-1-1

Attica 1-4

Kendall 0-5

Alexander picked up 3 league wins this week beating Attica, Oakfield, and Kendall.  Bergen beat Pembroke in OT Saturday night meaning that in the loss and tie column Alexander, Bergen, and Pembroke are all tied at the current moment with Holley one loss behind.  Big games in the upcoming week that will have impact in the standings are Alexander @ Wheatland 9/22, Elba @ Alexander 9/24, and Holley @ Lyndonville 9/23.  The next couple weeks finishes up all the cross-over games and will set the stage for the last round of divisional games.

Division II:

Wheatland 5-1

Elba 4-1

Lyndonville 3-3

Oakfield 1-4

Notre Dame 0-6

Lyndonville knocked off Elba this week in what could turn out to be a big loss for Elba as they were out in front of this division and after knocking off Wheatland early.  The crossover games could really put one team out in front of this division if they can pick up a handful of wins against the division 1 teams.  Both Wheatland and Elba play Alexander this week and a win by either or both could further distance themselves from Lyndonville.  Lyndonville plays Holley and needs a win if they want to keep pace with the top two teams in this division.

For the 3rd straight year it was York versus Alexander in the finals of the Kendall tournament and for the 3rd straight year York took home the crown.  Most of the York lineup returned from the team that knocked off Alexander 2-0 in OT in last years championship game while Alexander returned just 2 starters and only three other players that saw action in the game but Alexander hung tough throughout the game.

For the 2nd straight game 8th grader Abby Shilvock drew defensive responsibilities marking #11 from York who is their leading scorer and limited her to only a handful of shots.  #11 managed to score the first goal of the game on a full volley after #8 won a header and there was not much either Shilvock or goalkeeper Hannah Wilson could do as she buried it in the top right corner of the net.  The score was 1-0 at the half.

In the 2nd half York got an early goal on a corner kick that was nearly headed in and the attempted clearance was fired into the right side of the net for a 2-0 lead.  York would pick up a 3rd goal about 10 minutes later as a ball was stolen on the right sideline and crossed into the center where an Alexander defender's clearance ended up in their own net for a 3-0 lead.

York kept the pressure up for the remainder of the game and Alexander managed to hold them off thanks to solid defensive efforts from the entire backline and goalkeeper Wilson who made 14 saves on the night.

For Alexander defender Savannah VanSon, Midfielder Tessa Bigelow, and Forward Rachel Pettys were named to the all tournament team while Abby Shilvock was named Defensive MVP of the tournament.  Fantastic performances were also turned in by Goalkeeper Hannah Wilson and Defender Gabby Kwiatek.

Alexander sits at 5-3-2 overall and 5-1-1 in the league going into another big week where they will face Wheatland (@ Wheatland) on Monday and Elba at home on Wednesday.

Alexander continued their recent strong play with a thrilling 2-1 victory in Kendall Friday night under the lights.  The game was a 1st round game of the Kendall tournament and Alexander will face off against York in the finals Saturday at 7pm.

Alexander didn't take long to get on the board as Senior Rachel Pettys blasted on home 10 minutes into the game off a pass from Anna Dominick.  Alexander came out strong and controlled play in the beginning of the 1st half.  Kendall started to settle down after the goal and got Sophmore Kaila Browe involved in their offense and forced keeper Hannah Wilson to make a leaping stop that went off the crossbar to keep the score 1-0.  Browe was in just her 2nd game of the season after being out with an injury.

The 2nd half saw some back and forth action with Kendall controlling the possession but failing to solve Alexander's defense.  8th grade Abby Shilvock was assigned to mark Browe for the majority of the game and did a great job limiting her chances with the ball.

With under 20 minutes left in the game Kendall got a corner kick and sent it into the middle.  Alexander failed on several attempts to clear it and the ball sat 8 yards off the line when Browe stormed through and blasted it into the net to knot the game at 1. 

The game appeared headed for overtime as neither team could finish off a chance at their 2nd goal.  With 90 seconds left Sophmore Autumn Atkinson played a ball to an overlapping Junior Leah Johnson who got the cross in front of the net on her 2nd attempt at it where Pettys was waiting to send the ball into the back of the net with 1:17 left on the clock.

Alexander managed to kill the time off from there and pick up the win.  It was a well played game by both sides.

Kendall will play Albion in the consolation game at 5pm and Alexander will play York in the championship at 7pm.  Alexander's JV team will play York's JV team in the finals of the JV tournament at 3pm after Alexander knocked off Kendall 4-1 and York knocked off Albion 3-1.