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Chautauqua Lake begins Pender era with win

By Christian Storms 4 min read

MAYVILLE -- The Chautauqua Lake girls soccer team lost its final seven games of the season last year and Tuesday, the Eagles began the season against an opponent which defeated them in the opener a year ago, Ellicottville.

Under the new leadership of Brian Pender, Chautauqua Lake started this season in the win column with a 5-1 victory over Ellicottville.

"We didn't even think about last season at all," Pender said. "The girls played phenomenal, one through 14 today. We had multiple people score their first-ever varsity goal. We had people playing out of position because we had a number of injuries and our goalie playing first-year varsity-level keeper and she knocked it out of the park."

Chautauqua Lake pressed Ellicottville early, even earning a couple of corners, but the best early chance came to the visitors as Cayda Kruszynski found herself alone against the new face in goal, Addison Chess. The Chautauqua Lake sophomore turned aside the point-blank strike with ease in the 13th minute keeping the contest scoreless.

"This is a great first game to figure out where we're at," Ellicottville head coach Tammy Eddy said about the opener. "What we need to work on and we're still trying to figure out positions. A nonleague game is a perfect time to figure that out."

Chautauqua Lake eventually broke through in the 24th minute after about 10 minutes of each side struggling to get anything going in the final third. After flip flopping possession, Charlotte Emhardt played a ball into the box for Abigail Rizzo and the eighth-grader gave the extra touch needed as it squeaked through to give Chautauqua Lake a 1-0 lead.

"We want to play attacking," Pender said about his team. "That's the way we want to set up our team and Abi Rizzo has a knack for the goal, she's always been a natural goal scorer. I'm just happy she's on our team and doing a great job."

Rizzo wasn't done there as she was sprung alone on a breakaway by Kendra Tarr and made no mistake giving Chautauqua Lake a 2-0 lead in the 34th minute.

Chautauqua Lake nearly added a third goal in the final 10 seconds of the half with Eliana Ludwig sending a screamer to the top corner that Ady Andrews turned aside.

Andrews' teammates thanked her for the big save early in the second half with Camerie Riley poking a one-touch shot to the top corner in the 42nd minute.

"We put someone in a new position and it worked," Eddy said about Riley's goal.

That could have been a turning point in the match, but Chautauqua Lake got right back to work and was rewarded five minutes later when Avery Cannon restored the two-goal lead after a corner kick with a strike from distance to the top left corner. Then another three minutes later Ludwig buried a penalty kick for a 4-1 lead.

"We talked about it at halftime, but the proof is in the pudding," Pender said about responding to adversity. "We didn't stop playing our style of soccer, which I was very proud to see. Couldn't be happier with the way they responded after that goal."

Ludwig's penalty kick came less than a minute after Chess made her third point-blank save, continuing to stymie the Ellicottville forwards.

"She played out of her mind," Pender said about his goalie. "She was lacking a little confidence coming into this game and all the girls knew what she was capable of. She's an excellent basketball player and so we knew she was capable and now she knows it too."

Ellicottville continued pressing the rest of the contest, but couldn't manage to get past Chess again even with Juleana Lyon hitting the crossbar in the 68th minute and Eliza Murray striking the post in the 74th.

"It's just an adjustment," Eddy said. "After losing some seniors to graduation we just need to figure out what the best combination is."

Chautauqua Lake put the finishing touches on a great start to the season with Rizzo setting up freshman Sidney Cannon for a fifth-and-final goal.

"We have a beautiful mix," Pender said about the experience and inexperience in his lineup. "Six seniors that really set the tempo and they're the leaders of the team. All the way through the program we are trying to establish a program that people are happy to be a part of and build some depth all the way through. We've got 29 girls at the modified level and I’m really proud that we have the right girls in the right place here."

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