Local Sports

Ready to attack

Trojans score early, upend Hillbillies 4-0

The Southwestern boys soccer team wasted no time getting ahead of visiting Fredonia, scoring three goals in the first 13 minutes and not looking back en route to a 4-0 Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 1 victory at Charles A. Lawson Field on Wednesday.

"It's really big to get a lead in this league," Southwestern head coach Drew Keppel stated. "There is just so much parity in the league. Everyone seems to be on the same level. We've tied teams, we've beat teams, we've lost to teams. Everyone is kind of beating each other, and getting that first goal has really been the difference in most of these games and it's just really big to get out on top early."

In the first couple of minutes the Trojans had Fredonia on the ropes with Calvin Gesing opening the scoring from Benjamin Kidder in the third minute. Nearly a minute later, Matthew Persia extended the lead on a pass from Wilson Genareo.

"The midfield tends to be the most important part of the field," Keppel said. "We have three really solid midfielders in Matthew, Calvin and Benji. Then you have guys you can build off of up top like Wilson and Big O (Owen Mank) and Max. Being able to run through the midfield, I feel like that's how the whole game goes. The ball comes through the mid and they get it up to everybody. They touch it the most out of everyone so having a strong midfield, the leaders -- the spine of your team -- really being able to step up and control the pace makes all the difference in league games like this."

Then, nearly 10 minutes later, it was Genareo finishing a nice run on a pass from Max Bludau, taking the wind out of the sails of Fredonia.

"On a mental level it's hard to battle back from three goals in like seven minutes," Fredonia head coach Mason Redmond stated. "Logistically, it's really hard to battle back as well. I think given the circumstances, they did a really good job of resetting for the second half which looked better than the first."

It took a little bit after the third goal for Fredonia to really start to settle in and start tilting the field toward the Southwestern end. Even with more possession Fredonia was unable to get a lot of great looks at Cooper Charles in net who needed just three saves for the clean sheet.

"I'm a defensive guy," Keppel said. "I played defense in my career, so it's really important to me to make sure that we're helping our goalie out, and even in games we have a good lead in, that we get those clean sheets for our keeper. Cooper is a senior, great kid, a standup guy and it really means a lot to try and get him a shutout even when we're up a couple goals. Just staying focused, staying locked in no matter who's going in the game -- I know we switched a couple defenders here and there -- staying focused and pitching a clean sheet is always a good feeling for the team."

Even with the 3-0 deficit carrying over into the second half, Fredonia did not give up and was inches away from getting on the board in the 43rd minute. Southwestern's defense had one of its few mistakes when Elias Hoggard darted past, creating a one-on-one with Charles. Hoggard fired past the rushing keeper, but the ball connected with the crossbar and bounced back to the defense which eliminated the threat.

"It's tough if you already start at a deficit early on," Redmond added. "It's tough to see close chances hit the crossbar or have really close heartbreaker opportunities that would make the game have a momentum swing."

Fredonia was unable to get a more threatening chance toward goal and in the 67th minute Persia sprung Genareo on the counter-attack again and he ripped home his second tally of the game for a 4-0 lead.

After a tie against Allegany-Limestone and a narrow loss to Jamestown, Southwestern (7-4-3, 4-3-2) bounced back in league play with a shutout against the Hillbillies (6-6-1, 4-5-0).

"We have one more league game after this," Keppel added. "Before the game tonight we knew we had two league games left and knew they're big games to get up there in the seeding. Playoffs are all about getting hot at the right time and we're trying to get hot right now. Hopefully we stay hot, ride these last two games into the playoffs and the hottest team is going to get it done for a sectional championship in October here."