East, Grand Island to square off again in finals
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville South's Stephanie Lucey (16) tries to fend off Williamsville East's Rachel Piemonte. South finished 7-6-1. Photos by Joe Eberle

Williamsville East girls soccer is ranked No. 1 in Western New York, No. 1 in New York State Class A and sixth in the nation. But their season could come to a end if they can't get past Grand Island.

East (17-0) faced Grand Island (19-1) Tuesday at Amherst Central High for the Class A title. Results were unavailable before The Bee went to press.

It was the third straight time the two had met in the Class A finals. Grand Island won 3-1 in 2004 and 1-0 last year. East has not won a section title since 2002.

East advanced to the finals by shutting out Williamsville South, 6-0, in the quarterfinals at Maple East Elementary last Wednesday and 4-0 over Pioneer Saturday at Amherst.

In both games, the Lady Flames got off to early starts, scoring two goals in the first 18 minutes against South (Rachel Piemonte from Jenny Griffin; Griffin from Morgan Begy - beat South goalie Alyssa Ashcroft as she was going down) and two in the first 20 minutes versus Pioneer (Neha Bakhai off corner kick from Piemonte; Piemonte near post from Begy and Griffin).

Williamsville East's Neha Bakhai, right, kicks away from Williamsville South's Sarah Marcus during the Lady Flames' 6-0 Section VI Class A quarterfinals last Wednesday at Maple East Elementary School.

Kendra Durden (Tara Kiernan, Aleks Quenneville) and Christa Morgante on a free kick made it 4-0 at halftime versus South.

Griffin made it 5-0 five minutes into the second half from Piemonte and Quenneville. Durden scored ten minutes later from Katie Griffin and Quenneville.

East finished with 16 shots on goal to South's three. Ashcroft made a huge first half save early on when she she punched an attempt shot from Jenny Griffin over the top of the cross bar.

"I wasn't really worried if we would be fired up or not," said East coach Chris Durr. "I just didn't know what South team was going to show up. And I don't think they had a chance to show up because right from the start, we had two excellent scoring opportunities from 25 yards out in the first two minutes of the game. I think that put them on their heels. I told them before the game 'this is what you played for all year and you know what you have to do today.'"

"It was a combination of the talent he had and us fighting against the wind at the beginning," said South coach Kevin Mc- Namara. "We were on our heels and couldn't get off of them."

Griffin scored East's other two goals against Pioneer, the first at the 28-minute mark from Kiernan and Piemonte which went in far post, the other four minutes later from Durden and Kiernan.

"When you score 13 minutes into a game like that, especially when you're the favorite, there was not much I could say at halftime," said Durr. "In the second half, the wind starting picking up a little. I thought it was very cold. At 4-0, I said let's keep everyone healthy, preserve the shutout and get out with a good win."

Durr lauded the early goaltending by Pioneer's Erin Asquith.

Piemonte (22 goals, 11 assists), Griffin (17 goals, 22 assists) and Jessica Kowalski (13 goals, 8 assists) are the team's top three offensive leaders as of Monday.

Bojanek has 12 shutouts through Monday, 47 in her career, a new East record.

South finished 7-6-1 and loses seniors Nita Bhatia, Elizabeth Decker, Sanna Jacobson, Mia Kenney, Stephanie Lucey, Angela Russo, Jessica Sheehan, and Michelle Terranova.

Emily Novak led South with eight goals. Ashcroft had five shutouts.

"I thought we did well," said McNamara. "I've never had to ask them to play hard. Because of inexperience at a couple of key positions, we did as well as I expected."

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com