By Chris Metcalf
LCAA’S FINEST
GENESEO – When it comes to the post-season, strong defensive play usually takes home the championships.
Geneseo boys soccer coach Chris Masters loves the way his team is playing on that side of the field right now as his No. 2 seeded Geneseo boys take on No. 6 Kendall in a Section V Class C2 semifinal Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Hamilton Field in Caledonia.
“Our defense has been outstanding and has kept us in so many games when we could not score early on or found ourselves trailing,” coach Masters said.
Geneseo’s defense is led by junior keeper Dom Agosto, along with seniors Will Schiener, Will Chanler, Jack Noto and Adam Niedermaier, along with sophomore Eric Hammond.
“Those five can run all day and are great at winning the 50-50 balls,” Masters said.
The Blue Devils have been tearing it up this fall after a somewhat slow beginning.
After starting 1-2, Geneseo is now 13-3-1 and has gone 12-1-1 over their last 14 games.
Most recently, Geneseo advanced to the semifinals with their 4-0 victory over Cal-Mum.
Geneseo has outscored opponents 48-16 on the season.
“I think based on our last game we are playing very well right now,” Masters said. “We have kids who know the game plan and can execute some fine details when it matters the most. We are a team where we have many different ways we can score and many talented scorers who share the ball.”
Geneseo’s offense has been very consistent and well-balanced this fall with senior Sam Chanler leading the way with nine goals.
In all six Geneseo players have contributed at least five goals.
Junior Caleb Rice leads the team in total points with 23 as he has netted eight goals and dished out seven assists. Senior Kellen O’Brien has contributed 18 points with six goals and six assists while sophomore Oren Ray has 15 points with five goals and five assists.
Also for the Blue Devils, junior Cooper Warner and senior Callan Rowcliffe have scored seven and five goals respectively.
Masters feels competing in the always-tough Livingston Conference has always helped his team prepare for a post-season run, something they have done very consistently.
“Playing in the LCAA D2 has really helped us to prepare for sectionals,” he said. “Every game we played in our league was a tight match as well as our crossovers with D1 and D3. It is a huge advantage to us every season. We have had some great teams since we last won a division title in 2015. That is why winning the league meant so much to this team this season. They know the competition and they know how much parody there is in the league.”
Kendall, who is 9-8-1, has outscored their competition 33-22.
The Eagles advanced to the semifinals with a 3-2 victory over No. 3 Alfred-Almond.
Kendall lost 1-0 to Avon this season.
Geneseo, meanwhile, swept Avon this season winning 3-2 (Sept. 11) and 1-0 (Sept. 30).
Kendall’s main scoring threat is junior Louis Conte who has netted 12 goals this season.
“We are doing our due diligence on Kendall and know that they have also had a great year and have also played a very tough schedule as well,” Masters added. “It should be a great match and we can’t wait to play.”
Geneseo lost 1-0 in last year’s C1 semifinals to an Avon team that made it all the way to the NYS Class C title game.
They also lost 3-1 in the C1 finals to Williamson two years ago and 1-0 to Naples in the C2 finals in 2020.
They won the C2 title in 2018 beating Naples 1-0 in the finals.
