South boys soccer wins playoff game; Amherst, Sweet Home to open postseason on the road
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville South was rewarded for all of their hard work during the regular season with a 6-0 home victory over Springville on Monday in the first round of the Section VI Class A tournament.

"It felt good," said South coach Peter Sugg. "Obviously, I'm happy for the guys because they've worked hard this year and haven't been rewarded because we haven't been able to score."

The Billies, seeded fifteenth, did all of the scoring against eighteenth seed Springville, opening a 4-0 halftime lead.

Sophomore Zach Schwartz scored a little over four minutes into the game on a misplay by the Springville goalie. Senior Trevor Lawler tallied South's next three goals at the 16, 25 and 31-minute marks. Schwartz assisted Lawler on the first goal, senior Sam Alt crossed to Lawler for a header on the second goal and senior Chris Bussi tapped the ball to Lawler to complete the natural hat trick.

Alt made it 5-0 3.5 minutes into the second half from junior Justin Hofschneider. Schwartz closed out the scoring from Lawler.

Sophomore goalie Steve Crawford registered the shutout.

South closed out the regular season with a 1-1 tie at Amherst last Tuesday and a 3-0 loss at Williamsville North last Thursday.

Sophomore Brendan Lawler put the Billies up 1-0 against the Tigers on a pass from Schwartz.

"Zach crossed it over from the right side and Brendan made a diagonal run to the net and hit a one-timer into the net," said Sugg. "Their goalie had no chance."

Amherst's Mike Owamagbe scored from Bridger Langfur to tie the game with four minutes remaining in the second half.

Sugg felt after Amherst scored, his team applied a lot of offensive pressure.

"Alt had a great scoring chance with less than 10 seconds left," said Sugg. "It just missed the near side of the net."

The tie bumped Amherst into fourth place in ECIC Division III with a 4-4-4 record. They were the last team to get a bye into the quarterfinals of the Section VI Class A tournament.

Amherst (8-5-4), seeded twelfth, will play at fifth-seed Grover Cleveland at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The winner plays Kenmore East or East Aurora on at 3:30 p.m. on Friday.

"We have to score goals and outwork them," said Amherst coach Bobby DiNunzio.

North's Oliver Jackson and Matt Campana scored 35 seconds apart in the first half to give the Spartans a 2-0 halftime lead.

"We didn't play horrible in the first half but they controlled the play," said Sugg. "Crawford made a couple of big saves and they hit a couple of crossbars. They're No. 1 ranking (in Western New York) is not a fluke."

Sugg felt his team played better in the second half and had two great scoring chances - Schwartz at the five-minute mark and Trevor Lawler on a header 15 minutes later - but could not score.

Lars Woosidlo scored the Spartans' final goal with 15 minutes left in the second half. He ripped a shot into the upper corner that Crawford got a piece of and hit the crossbar into the net.

"The fact that Crawford got a piece of it is a testament to how good Steve is," said Sugg.

South (4-8-5) plays at second seed Iroquois at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

South lost 3-0 to Iroquois earlier this season but Sugg said they had chances to score.

"We got nothing to lose," said Sugg. "We're capable of playing with them so we'll see what happens. We're going to need a strong defensive effort because they can score. Steve's going to have to play well."

Sweet Home

The Panthers' 3-1 home win over West Seneca West on Oct. 16 was the Panthers' third victory in its last six games. That may not sound like much but the way the Panthers' season has been going, it's the best they could have done.

Sweet Home finished the regular season 4-8 in ECIC Division II and 4-14 overall. They started 1-11 before going 3-3 over the final six games.

"We're playing as good as we can but limited in what we can do with the talent that we have," said Sweet Home coach Scott Martin.

Junior Nick Cavalieri scored on a penalty kick right before halftime to give the Panthers a 1-0 halftime lead. Mamane Hamza (Matt Cuddihy) and Cuddihy (Connor Orrico) tallied with 18 and six minutes remaining in the second half.

Tim Arnold made six saves for the shutout.

Sweet Home, seeded eighth in the Section VI Class AA tournament, plays at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday at ninth-seed Lancaster.

"Lancaster is a tough opponent," said Martin. "They have an All-Western New York forward (Matt Brehm). If we mark him tight in the back, we'll definitely be in the game."

"If we can win on Wednesday, it will be a very successful season," he added.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com