By PAUL GOTHAM
SCOTTSVILLE, N.Y. — Jen Quinn didn’t want her Wheatland-Chili girls’ soccer team to get comfortable at halftime. Holding a 2-nil lead after 40 minutes of action, Quinn knew better than to be content.
“It’s the most dangerous lead in soccer,” Quinn said of the two-goal advantage. “One of the hardest things for a young player to learn is the ebb and flow of the game and how the momentum can change very quickly. Certainly, there is a great lesson in that. They responded fantastically which is what we ask of them.”
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Sienna Mekker and Vanessa Guerrero scored a goal apiece and host Wheatland-Chili held on to beat Oakfield-Alabama/Elba, 2-1 in opening-round action of the 26th annual Megan Carl Memorial Tournament.
“We just try really hard to get them to learn the moments of the game, understand them and respond accordingly,” Quinn said. “They did great tonight. I’m very proud of them.”
Guerrero set up Mekker for the first score of the game and later added the eventual game winner.
“Vanessa is a dynamic and incredible attacking player,” Quinn said of the sophomore midfielder/forward. “She has spent her off-season making every part of her game better. We have a lot of returning players from our attack. She’s in the middle of all that. She’s the engineer of it all.”
But Wheatland could not add to its lead in the second half against an Oakfield-Alabama team that used a high press to tilt the momentum of the game.
Piper Hyde scored in the 55th minute to make it a one-goal game.
“Sometimes it’s hard to hold a lead for that long,” Quinn said. “The first game is always a bit of a hiccup, but at the same time you hope to see it come together piece by piece as the season goes on.”
Wheatland will face Holley in Saturday’s championship game.
Holley, which defeated Cal-Mum earlier in the evening, is coming off a 2023 season in which the Hawks won their first sectional title since 1994. Holley went on to win its first regional championship in program history.
The tournament has been in existence since the early 1980s but was renamed after Megan Carl lost her life in a tragic car accident in March of her junior year (1998). Carl was to be the starting goalkeeper for W-C her senior season. The Wildcats wore alternate jerseys in honor of the former player.
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