By PAUL GOTHAM
BERGEN, N.Y. — For the third time in as many years, the girls’ soccer teams from Byron-Bergen and Gananda met in an elimination game. The outcome of all three matchups has been the same. The means, by which to get there in Friday’s tilt, varied slightly from the previous two meetings.
“Last two times we’ve played them, they’ve scored first on us,” Byron-Bergen head coach Wayne Hill said after his Bees came away with a 3-nil victory in Section V Class C2 quarterfinal action. “It puts you in a horrible position.”
Janessa Amesbury made sure the Bees didn’t face a deficit this time around. The senior forward broke a scoreless tie in the 19th minute with her first of two goals on the night.
“That first goal just gets you going,” she said. “It hypes you up and has everyone get more intensity because you want to score more goals.”
Amesbury did the bulk of the work as the second-seeded Bees added to that advantage before halftime. She outran a pair of defenders along the left wing and made a rush to the end line before delivering a cross that teammate Mia Gray redirected into the back of the net.
“I just wanted to get around the defenders, get down the line as close as a I could to the net before passing,” she said. “I was just trying to get open, and Mia calls for the ball and I’m like, okay. I crossed it in and she pretty much slid into the goal.”
With the win, Byron-Bergen (16-1-1) advances to meet No. 3 Genesee Valley-Belfast.
A year ago, Byron-Bergen took a 4-1 decision in the C2 semifinals and ended Gananda’s season. In 2022, the Bees outlasted the Blue Panthers, 3-2 in the Class C regional qualifier.
Gray and her teammates knew to expect a battle when they took the field Friday night.
“Gananda is a really, really good team,” said the junior midfielder. “We had to come prepared. Throughout the three years, we have gotten better and better. They bring out our best, our highest level and we have to play like that to take the dub.”
Gananda took the game to Byron-Bergen in the opening moments.
“Gananda is a great team,” Hill said. “For years, they’ve been a great team. We knew they were going to come out hard and fast. We watched games. We watched film. The emotions of it, I don’t know, maybe it was a little bit more than we expected.
“We regrouped. We got it together, and we started to control the ball, and that’s what got us playing a little bit better.”
As expected, the Blue Panthers didn’t go away easily.
Early in the second half, it looked like they would cut the deficit in half when Izzy Hoffmann won a ball in the midfield and took a pair of touches before leading teammate Ally Cruz into the open field. Cruz went near post with a right-footed strike, but Byron-Bergen keeper Natalie Prinzi made a diving stop on the attempt.
Class C2: Big Save Natalie Prinzi and moments later Janessa Amesbury connects for her second goal of the night to give @BB_GirlsSoccer a 3-nil lead midway through the second half. pic.twitter.com/x4hYvxh1gE
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) October 26, 2024
“Natalie’s really an outstanding keeper to watch,” Hill said. “Great communicator, great leader as a captain. She’s been unbelievable all year. Some of our games you just don’t know that because she doesn’t see the ball.”
Prinzi made eight saves for her 13th shutout of the season.
“When we played the three bigger schools, Nichols, Mercy and Aquinas, she might have been the best player on the field in those games. She’s never beat for position. If she’s scored on, it’s a misdirect or something like that where she made a great play on it and someone knocked it down or did something else.”
Less than two minutes after that save, Amesbury added an insurance goal with an assist from Grace DiQuattro.
DiQuattro finished with two assists.
Gray’s goal was her 31st of the season and 159th of her career.
“She lives, breathes and sleeps soccer,” Hill said of the University of Florida commit. “The talent, you take it for granted, but it’s the field awareness this year that we’re seeing. When to come in and tackle, when to cover for a teammate on a play. When to make the run forward when we need something. When to just involve somebody when you can tell they need the ball or they’re in a better vantage point for us. That kinda stuff never shows on the stat sheet, but that’s the stuff that makes a difference. It’s the fact that she’s seeing the field and puts us in a position where we can do something positive.”
Gananda (12-6-0) came into the game winners of five of six. Of the Blue Panthers’ six losses, three came to schools from larger classifications (Penfield/AA, Wayne/A and Our Lady of Mercy/A). Their other two losses came to Class C1 top seed, Williamson. Gananda played the season without Ella Lathrop. The reigning Wayne County Player of the Year suffered a season-ending injury prior to the start of the 2024 campaign.
“I’m happy we scored first,” Hill said. “I’m happy we shut them out. It’s not an easy thing to do. They got some great talent going forward. We just got in the right positions to negate it when it was necessary.”
Byron-Bergen will face Genesee Valley-Belfast on Tuesday, October 29th. Time and location are to be announced.
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