Girls Soccer
Williamsville schools post shutouts
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

It was a good to be a member of any of the three Williamsville girls soccer teams on Monday.

Williamsville East, North and South all shut out their opponents in the prequartefinals to advance in the Section VI Championships. In Class A, East, seeded No. 2, blanked fifteenth-seed Maryvale, 8-0 while South, seeded tenth, beat seventh-seed Tonawanda, 2-0, at Clint Small Stadium. South and East will meet at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at a site yet to be announced.

In Class AA, North, seeded fifth, beat twelfth-seed West Seneca West, 3-0 at UB's Walter Kunz Stadium. North will play at fourth seed Jamestown at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Williamsville East

East scored three goals in the first 36:30 of the first half against Maryvale, two coming from Jessica Kowalski as the Lady Flames rolled.

Kowalski opened the scoring at 7:20 off a corner kick from Aleks Quenneville and Neha Bakhai. Kowalski later scored from Jenny Griffin and Rachel Piemonte. Piemonte scored on a penalty kick. Griffin added two late first half goals from Quenneville, at the 38-minute mark and from Piemonte and Kowalski on a rebound 1:30 later, to put East ahead 5-0 at halftime.

Morgan Begy (Kowalski) and Tara Kiernan (Erin Boyd) each scored their first career varsity goals. Piemonte added her second of the day on a gorgeous header on the far post from a Kendra Durden cross.

"Not having played in 20 days we were in a situation where it took us 15 to 20 minutes to knock the rust off and get going," said East coach Chris Durr. "Once we got going, besides the penalty kick and one other goal, we had six nice goals, two nice headers and two good shots on net."

Goalie Molly Bojanek posted her 45th career shutout, tying Jenna Gage's school record.

East (15-0) is ranked No. 1 in New York State Class A, the first time in school history, and moved to No. 16 in the nation, up from 18th.

Williamsville South Sophomores Brianna Zangara and Emily Novak scored in the first and second half, respectively, and goalie Alyssa Ashcroft recorded her fifth shutout of the season in the shutout victory.

Stephanie Lucey and Carrie Connolly were among the South defenders who kept the ball out of South's end and put pressure on Tonawanda, said South coach Kevin McNamara.

"Our goalkeeper was able to handle all of the through balls that came through," McNamara added. "Anything played in the box she did a good job handling."

The game was played at Clint Small Stadium and was in decent shape.

"They had rolled the field, did a good job, but there was very little grass," McNamara said. "I told the kids at the beginning (of the game) this isn't going to be a game where we ping the ball around and play pretty direct against them. So that's what our game plan was, to try to play behind their defense and get onto those balls and serve the front of the net."

Williamsville North

After the opening 10 minutes against West Seneca West, North (8-5-3) controlled the game, said Lady Spartans coach Dan Greiner.

Hillary Jacobson, Suzanne Jacobs and Shannon Algoe on a penalty kick each scored. Jill Piaggione assisted on Jacobson's and Jacobs' goals. North led 2-0 at halftime.

Greiner lauded the defensive work of sweeper Jenny Piaggione, Kristin Boreanaz, Karrie Gurbacki, and Leeanne Pinski. Goalie Alex Nero had to only make four saves for the shutout.

Greiner also applauded the work of the West goaltending.

"They made some nice saves because after the first 10 minutes, we had some quality chances," said Greiner. "They made a couple of great saves on Meredith Kirby, who didn't score, but we were peppering shots on them."

Greiner thanked UB for allowing them to play its home playoff game.

"It was very gracious of UB for us to use their facility," said Greiner. "Our field has not been playable for most of the season because of the weather so it was really nice to get out and play on a dry, nice surface."

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com