GENESEO — Of course there is much more to the Byron-Bergen girls soccer team than Mia Gray, but my goodness.
The senior scored three goals, each with an impressive burst of power, that sparked the defending state champions to a 5-0 win over Wilson of Section VI in Saturday’s Class C Far West Regional at Geneseo High School.
The win sends the Bees (19-2-0) back to the state semifinals and leaves the Lakewomen (17-2-0) wondering what hit them. Then again, Gray’s prowess was no secret coming into the game but any hope of avoiding her damage faded at 31:47 and 27:22 of the first half.
“We played the first 15 minutes like we were nervous,” Wilson coach Jeffrey Hart said. “We were man-marking (Gray) and we weren’t playing our brand of soccer.”
A 2-0 deficit certainly isn’t unmanageable, but it’s not ideal, either. Still, the Lakewomen at that point dropped the man-mark on the University of Florida commit and fell back to relying on the team speed that helped make them a Section VI champion.
And for the remainder of the first half, it worked. The sides were level when it came to pace and sophomore Addison Elia made a number of runs that provided scoring threats and showed the Bees that they weren’t quite finished for the day. And when Lilly Gurski’s direct kick from about 20 yards out late in the half forced a leaping save from Byron-Bergen goalkeeper Rylee Burch, the message was clear. Wilson wasn’t finished either.
A goal there would have made it a 2-1 score and create a different match altogether.
“I told my girls at halftime that the next goal would make the difference,” said Hart.
And at 26:31 of the second half, the next goal came. But it was from Gray and from there, the Bees were in control. The goal was a muscular launch from Gray’s left foot from about 7 yards outside of the area and that was by design.
“We wanted to shoot from farther out,” said Gray. “They’re a good team and it’s a lot harder to get into the box when you’re playing good teams.”
For all the power that Gray displayed, teammate Grace DiQuattro is no slouch either. After launching a couple of screamers that didn’t connect earlier in the match, the senior finally hit with 18:12 left to give the Bees a 4-0 advantage but it was the capper from Elizabeth Starowitz with 16:01 left that created the biggest smiles.
The senior was in the box for a corner kick and once it cleared traffic, Starowitz was there for the header finish. It’s not an uncommon soccer sequence, but when you’re 4-feet, 11-inches tall, it came as a bit of a surprise for Starowitz.
“Usually, it’s Mia in there heading it in but this time, it came right to me,” she said, beaming.
So the Bees are heading back to Cortland County next weekend for the Class C semifinals on Saturday, hoping to defend their state title despite losing seven seniors to graduation from that team. And while Saturday’s win is nice, Byron-Bergen coach Wayne Hill wasn’t expecting a 5-0 score.
“It’s hard against Section VI because we don’t have any comparative teams to judge against so we have to trust in what we play, and it worked,” he said.
Byron-Bergen will play Tuckahoe of Section I in Saturday’s semifinal at 2:30 p.m. at Homer High School.
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