By PAUL GOTHAM
RIGA, N.Y. — For the past few seasons, John Mahoney’s Churchville-Chili boys’ soccer team has shown a penchant for scoring goals in bunches.
That tendency dictated the outcome of Wednesday’s Monroe County Division II matchup.
Deadlocked in a scoreless tie at half, the Saints (No. 3 NYSSWA Class AA) struck twice in the first three minutes coming out of the break and then put the game out of reach less than 19 minutes later.
“That’s the first time I think we’ve played a complete game,” Mahoney said after his host Saints (6-0-1) defeated Brighton (5-1-1), 3-0. “We’ve played a whole bunch of 2-1 games that we should not have given up goals. Today, we played a complete game and didn’t really let a whole lot in. And I thought throughout the whole park, the whole team played well.”
The scoring started when Churchville keeper Austin Allen delivered a free kick from 75 yards out that ended up in the back of the net.
“It felt good, honestly,” said Allen who played at Wheatland-Chili last year. “The contact was great.”
The senior keeper pointed to the efforts of his teammate, Dimitrios Chatzikonstantino for making the goal possible.
“It wasn’t even me, really,” he said. “Thankfully Dee, he jumped up, distracted the keeper, and, you know, good things happened.”
42’ Austin Allen…from 75 yards out gives @CCCSDbsoccer a 1-nil lead. One minute later, Lucas Cariola adds to lead with an assist from Bryce Wolf. pic.twitter.com/yssW6GX2P7
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) September 24, 2026
A little over a minute later, Bryce Wolf set up Lucas Cariola for a goal inside the 18-yard box to make it 2-nil.
“We were just elevated and they were frustrated,” Mahoney said. “And in that one moment, it’s two nothing.”
“Once we get one goal, it just opens the floodgates,” Wolf said. “We bring the energy. we have a motto, we say ‘next five.’ Meaning the next five seconds. We got to bring the energy, bring the pressure. You know, and the opportunities will come from that.”
Wolf battled Brighton center back Charlie McIntyre head-to-head throughout the match. The senior forward was able to gain an advantage on the third Churchville goal when he received the ball on the outside third along the left wing. Wood beat one defender before slipping past McIntyre inside the 18-yard box.
“I saw that he was taking away the endline,so I cut him off,” Wolf explained. “ I thought I was gonna have a hit or play top of the box, but then I saw a gap. I just split it, and then I picked my head up and saw there was so much space in the middle.”
Wolf slipped a pass to Chatzikonstantinou who scored into an open net.
61’ Great work from Bryce Wolf along the the outer third, draws a defender then sets up Dimitrios Chatzikonstantinou with an open net. @CCCSDbsoccer 3-nil pic.twitter.com/v47F0z8CJV
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) September 24, 2026
“I found ‘D’ and I knew he was gonna finish it,” Wolf said.
Brighton was coming off a 2-nil over McQuaid. The Bruins (No. 12 NYSSWA Class AA) have posted four shutouts on the season.
“We played a really good first half,” Brighton head coach Adam Hiller. “It was a pretty even game. We had a couple chances. They had a couple chances. Goalies came up with a couple saves.”
Brighton’s best opportunity to score came in the 51st minute off a corner kick. PK Jones won a ball in the air but his redirect glanced off the cross bar. Max Zwas was there for the rebound, but Allen went to the turf to make a save on the attempt.
51’ @brightonbruins came this close to getting on the scoreboard. Austin Allen cleans it up for @CCCSDbsoccer at the end of the sequence. pic.twitter.com/ysBQnOowf8
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) September 24, 2026
“We had two unfortunate breaks in the first couple minutes of the second half,” Hiller said. “We know that Churchville comes in waves. That’s what the pregame talk was about with the boys. They come in waves, and you got to withstand it, and we kind of shot ourselves in the foot. Then we got a two nothing hole, and then we had to push a little bit.”
Allen made four saves for the shutout.
“They’re an excellent team,” Mahoney said of Brighton. “I don’t think that’s a 3-nothing game. The scoreboard says that, but it was a tight game. You saw it, and they’re good. I thought they really had a lot of that first half. They were outstanding on the ball. They have some talented technical players.”
Churchville-Chili travels to Irondequoit on Saturday for a 7 PM kickoff. Brighton will host Webster Thomas for a 7 PM start on Friday.
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