South works overtime to beat WS East
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville South and West Seneca East sure don't like to finish girls soccer games in regulation.

For the third straight time, a meeting between both teams had to go to overtime. South defeated West Seneca East, 4-2, in double overtime on Oct. 5. South won 1-0 in overtime on Sept. 19.

"It was a good win for us," said South coach Kevin McNamara. "It felt like a playoff game."

Junior forward Emily Novak broke a 2-2 tie five minutes into the second 10-minute overtime from sophomore striker Sarah Marcus. Senior attacker/midfielder Lisa Stachura scored on a direct kick four minutes later.

Novak scored South's first goal to tie the game at 1-1. Ellie Falletta put the Lady Billies ahead 2-1 with 10 minutes left in the second half. West Seneca East scored the equalizer with 10 minutes remaining.

South's other recent games have been a 3-0 win on Oct. 1 over Sweet Home, a 4-3 loss at Iroquois on Oct. 3 and a 5-0 defeat to Williamsville East last Thursday.

Alex Ciolko, Falletta and Novak scored Lady Billie goals against Sweet Home. Ciolko's came 15 minutes into the first half on a header. Novak assisted. Falletta's goal was 10 minutes into the second half on a through ball from Novak. Novak's tally was unassisted with seven minutes left. Goalie Alyssa Ashcroft recorded her second shutout.

South's second half rally wasn't enough to defeat Iroquois.

The Lady Billies trailed 3-0 at halftime but Novak scored twice in the second half, one goal assisted by Marcus, to make it 3-2. Iroquois answered with its fourth goal before Marcus tallied from Meghan Couche with six minutes remaining but couldn't get the equalizer.

"I thought we played with a lot of energy," said McNamara. "I was happy how we responded."

South (5-7, 5-6) hosts Class D powerhouse Ellicottville on Wednesday and play at Frontier on Friday. Both are 4:45 p.m. starts.

"We're going to treat these as playoff games," said McNamara.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com