By PAUL GOTHAM
IRONDEQUOIT, N.Y. — Ezra Gathercole needed less than two minutes to break a scoreless tie at halftime, and the Honeoye Falls-Lima senior added two more goals as the Cougars used a big second half to beat host Eastridge, 4-1 in Monroe County Division IV action from Erna Frank Field, Tuesday.
The hat trick was the fourth of the season for Gathercole who leads HF-L with 13 goals.
Sophomore Chase Pritchard made a run along the left wing and served a cross into the middle third of the pitch that Gathercole finished from inside the 18-yard box.
“Chase played a great ball from the wing,” Gathercole said. “I’m just making my run through the gaps in the defense. That’s just what I look for gaps in between the midfield and the defense and in the backline. I try to burst into those spaces. Chase did a great job finding me. I did the easy part. He did the hard part.”
Pritchard then took advantage of a giveaway inside the 18 and doubled the lead 13 minutes later.
From there, Gathercole converted a penalty kick.
After battling through a back-and forth contest in the opening 40 minutes, HF-L had a commanding 3-nil lead.
“They competed,” HF-L head coach Mike Merrill said of the Lancers. “Eastridge really competed hard, and made us work hard.
“The team showed some resilience. We just couldn’t put one away. Eventually, good players are going to find the back of the net, and a good team is going to find it.”
Gathercole, in particular, found little space to work in the first half. Eastridge’s Jayden Claudio shadowed Gathercole from sideline to sideline.
“They did a great job man-marking Ezra in the first half,” Merrill said. “It was a little frustrating, but Ezra kept persevering. We talked about it a little bit at halftime about finding opportunities for him and other guys playing off him. He showed some resilience.”
The irony of Gathercole’s first goal on the night was that it came from the middle third. This after Claudio regularly and routinely broke up the attempts to get Gathercole the ball along the outer thirds.
“It was a challenge at first,” he said. “But I got into different spaces, figured out what they were going to do and made adjustments in the second half.”
The win was the fifth straight for HF-L (6-3-0).
“We’re starting to figure out what our strengths are and what our weaknesses are and playing toward that,” Merrill said. “We’ve done well making adjustments and building some momentum and hopefully can compete with some of the top teams.”
74’ Ezra Gathercole completes a hat trick to give @HFLBoysSoccer a 4-1 lead. pic.twitter.com/fdlFeASg0J
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) September 30, 2025
Hudson Reed (3 saves) and Lukas Wilson (2 saves) combined for the win.
Gathercole added an assist in the win. Matthew Remus also had a helper.
Eastridge (3-7-0) had won three of four heading into Tuesday’s action. Mehmet Alevli ran on to a through ball from Sebastian Clark and scored in 66th minute to get the home side on the scoreboard.
The Lancers will host World of Inquiry/Edison/ Padilla/SOTA on Thursday. A 6:00 p.m. kickoff is scheduled.
HF-L will host Wilson Magnet on Thursday. That match is also scheduled for a 6 p.m. start.
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