The Fredonia Lady Hillbillies used a big boost from Morgan Genovese to upend the Dunkirk Lady Marauders 5-0 in CCAA Division 1 girls' high school soccer on Thursday.
Genovese netted two goals in the first half and one in the second for the hat trick while also tallying an assist.
"We were coming off a tough loss," Fredonia coach Cathy Cruver said shortly after having her team dump the water cooler over her head. "We pulled it together. We look like we had something good working in warm-ups and we just overall played well."
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OBSERVER?Photo by Courtney Gfroerer
Fredonia’s Alexandra Zents (23) and Dunkirk’s Sammi Thompson fight for a loose ball during Thursday’s CCAA?Division 1 girls’ high school soccer game.
Fredonia got the scoring started with 22:56 left to go in the first half as Krista Wheelock fluttered a shot just over the goalkeeper's head.
It didn't take long for the Lady Hillbillies to score again as the visitors scored less than two minutes later when Genovese tapped in a goal for a 2-0 lead.
Fredonia continued to build on that momentum as Genovese made a nice move in front of the net to score the Lady Hillbillies' third goal of the game with 17:23 left in the first half.
Fredonia added its fourth goal of the half when Zoya Katta put back a rebound after the previous Fredonia shot was denied by the crossbar.
"It was a new coach and a new system for Fredonia," Dunkirk coach Phil Cook said. "We made the right adjustments at halftime. I think we were one pass here, one pass there away from this being a completely different game."
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The Lady Marauders played much better in the second half as they allowed just one goal and created a number of scoring chances on offense.
For Dunkirk, it was the team's senior game and a number of seniors played some of their hardest fought soccer of the season.
"This was big for our seniors," Cook said. "I let the seniors pick which game they wanted to have their senior game during and they chose this one. All of them played well and I'm going to miss them. Lisa Dunbar and Sam Thompson have been with me the longest and have been a big part of this team."
Genovese netted her third goal of the game in the second half to finalize the scoring.
Bre Dahn earned the shutout in goal for Fredonia while the defense played strong in front of her.
"Our defense and midfield played well," Cruver said. "Obviously Morgan Genovese, Zoya Katta and Krista Wheelock played well getting the goals, but I also think that Nicole Woleben anchored our defense and always plays with all her heart."
Wheelock and Katta also tallied assists to go with their goals.
