Girls Soccer
East's dream season ends
Lady Flames win section title, lose to Victor in regionals
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville East's Rachel Piemonte puts her head into the game during the Lady Flames' 3-2 penalty-kick shootout win over Grand Island in the Section VI Class A finals Nov. 7 at Amherst Central High School. Piemonte scored East's first goal in the shootout. Also pictured is Grand Island's Casey Carminati. East fell 2-1 to Section V's Victor in the Far West Regionals on Saturday at Irondequoit High School. Photo by Joe Eberle

One defensive mistake possibly kept Williamsville East's girls soccer from its first trip to the New York State semifinals.

Chelsea Mandrino of Section V's Victor scored in the closing seconds of the first half to tie the game at 1-1 and Kylie Waseleski scored 14 minutes into the second half to send East home 2-1 losers in the Class A Far West Regionals on Saturday at Irondequoit High School.

Victor (19-2-1) will face Section II's Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake in the state semis at 9 a.m. Friday at Cortland State College.

Mandrino's game-tying goal was somewhat controversial. East could not clear the ball and she scored with no time left in the first half. Whether or not the ball had crossed the goal line before the official blew the whistle is unknown. East coach Chris Durr said there were a couple of people standing on the sidelines by midfield who thought the referee blew the whistle before the ball went into the net.

"I don't know whether time ran out or didn't," he added. "My only issue with it was the center official was not down with the play. He was standing at center field. He should have been with the other official counting the time down so he could see where the ball was. But as bad as a situation as it was, it was on us to clear the ball and play 40 minutes, not 39 minutes and 59 seconds. We could have cleared the ball and not made it a close play and put it in the hands of the officials."

Waseleski's goal came after the ball rebounded off several players and was lofted over East defenders and goalie Molly Bojanek into the upper corner of the net.

After Victor's second tally, Lady Blue Devil stopper Liessel Toth was moved to sweeper and helped kick away every offensive chance East could muster to close out the game.

Sophomore Tara Kiernan scored East's only goal at the 22-minute mark of the first half from Kendra Durden and Jenny Griffin.

"It was a great through ball from Kendra to Tara and she cut it back, went around the defender, dribbled into the box and as the goalie came out, knocked it into the far post," said Durr.

Durr said his team had two other great first-half scoring chances. Christa Morgante's indirect free kick from about 16 yards out on an angle missed the corner of the net. Later, Jenny Griffin took a pass from Kiernan into the middle of the box, beat a Victor defender, aimed for the right corner of the net but Victor's goalie deflected it wide with a fingertip save.

"I think we pretty much controlled play in the first half," said Durr. "Victor's a very physical team and was beating us to loose balls but they really didn't get too many opportunities."

Durr said the Victor loss was heartbreaking for the entire team.

"With the type of season we've had, being ranked as high as sixth nationally and No. 1 in the state, it's disappointing we didn't make it to the state final four," said Durr.

To advance to regionals, East defeated Grand Island, 3-2 in a penalty-kick shootout for the Section VI Class A title last Tuesday at Amherst Central High School.

The section title was East's first since 2002 and fifth in the last eight years. Grand Island defeated East in the section finals the last two years.

"It was a nice monkey to get off our back," said Durr. "We beat them in basketball last year after they had beaten us two years straight. It was such a huge game for us."

"I thought overall we probably had more chances to score and kind of controlled play," he added. "It was the type of game that went back and forth. Molly had to make a very big save in the second overtime from 18 yards out on an angle and she dove and made a stop. Their goalie made about four or five saves that we certainly could have scored on. It was probably the best soccer game that we've ever been involved in... The girls really wanted to get a shot at Grand Island for the third year in a row and felt pretty confident going in but not overconfident."

Durr said Bojanek really set the tone in the shootout when she made a diving save on Grand Island opening shooter Jessica Kuehne.

"When a goalie dives and makes a save on the first shot of a shootout, I think it puts something in the back of the head of all shooters that says 'I got to be extra special with my shot here because she's already saved one'," Durr said.

Rachel Piemonte answered on the Lady Flames' first shootout chance. Neha Bakhai and Aleks Quenneville also scored for East. Grand Island freshman keeper Kristin Wegrzyn was in net for the shootout in place of starting goalie Allie Wiezer who left between the first two 10-minute overtime sessions with a head injury.

Bojanek stopped three of Grand Island's five shootout attempts and finished with eight saves overall.

Durr said he got an all-around game from everybody, particularly Griffin, who played the entire game despite a lower leg injury suffered three days earlier in the section semifinals against Pioneer. Bojanek, Piemonte, Quenneville, Bakhai, Jen Sommer, and Christa Morgante also played the entire game. Durr also thought younger players like Kiernan, Bakhai, and Katie Griffin played tremendous as did Jessica Kowalski and Sommer.

For the season, Bojanek finished with seven goals allowed and 13 shutouts in 19 games. She leaves with school records for career (.51) and season (.36) goals against average and career shutouts (48).

East scored 72 goals, led by Piemonte's 22 in 16 games, two shy of the school record. She only scored three goals once in a game this season and never more than two. She finished her four-year career with 63 goals and 64 assists, both school records.

"You'd think it's always important for kids to try and get records," said Durr. "She really wasn't as concerned about that as she was about the team's success and that's pretty tremendous."

Jenny Griffin (17 goals, 21 assists), Jessica Kowalski (13 goals, eight assists), Durden (five goals, 13 assists), Quenneville (four goals, career-high 17 assists), Morgante (three goals, eight assists) and Kiernan (two goals, nine assists - two goals and four assists in playoffs) rounded out the East scoring.

East finished 18-1, set a school record for most consecutive wins and were ECIC Division II champions for the fifth straight time and sixth out of the last seven years. They were also ranked No. 1 in Western New York and New York State Class A and at one time were ranked sixth in the nation.

Piemonte, Bojanek, Morgante, Quenneville, Sommer, Beth Kaiser, Melissa Hoffman and Pooja Bakhai are seniors. The team's four captains - Piemonte, Bojanek, Quenneville and Morgante - have a 67-9-8 record as members of the varsity team.

"I feel for the eight seniors," said Durr. "Their soccer careers at East are over. I'm so proud at how they played all year and the way they reacted with all the press and accolades. They're well grounded. They realized they were a very good team but before the playoffs and storm, really hadn't accomplished anything. The goal was, after beating Grand Island, to go to states. For that not to happen in a year where we probably should have made it was disappointing."

"This has been a great season to remember not only for the success but for the kids," he added. "They were very respectful to other teams and have done everything we've asked them to do all year. No one's ever complained about a thing all year. You can't ask for anything more."

Bojanek, Morgante, Jenny Griffin, Piemonte and Quenneville were named ECIC First Team all-stars. Pooja Bakhai and Jessica Kowalski made the second team. Morgante, Bojanek (third time), Piemonte (second time, All-WNY Second Team as a sophomore) and Jenny Griffin made the All-Western New York First Team. Quenneville is on the All-WNY Second Team.

The East JV girls soccer team lost its first game but finished the season on a 13-game win streak.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com