BAINBRIDGE – The Bainbridge-Guilford Bobcats girls’ soccer team earned the sixth seed in the Section IV, Class C tournament, where playing Class B’s Sidney and other ranked opponents helped them out in terms of sectional points. As B-G drew the sixth seed, they were able to host the first round of sectionals against 11th seed Southern Cayuga. B-G, who finished the regular season with a 9-4 record and third in the MAC, came away with a 2-0 shutout victory over the Chiefs.
It was a slow start for both teams as the teams battled back-and-forth with strong defense. B-G, with motivation from Coach Sarah Nezelek on the sidelines, stepped up offensively and finally had some nice shots on goal with their first shot from Jayslin Henderson, just under 29 minutes. With the first shot on goal out of the way, the Bobcats continued, but couldn’t finish. With three minutes left, Keelan Ammon scored the first goal of the game for B-G on a slow roller. B-G took the 1-0 lead at halftime and knew that they couldn’t slow up efforts in the second half.
B-G kept firing away shots on goal in the second half and showed improvement with making better passes. Emily Sprow and Hannah Shackleton led the Bobcats dynamic defense and hustled for the ball when the Chiefs tried to get things rolling on offense with sending deep balls to the corner. The Chiefs did have two shots on goal, which B-G’s Danica Park saved cleanly. B-G notched their second goal of the game from Jayslin Henderson on a free kick near the 50 yard line as the goalkeeper bobbled the ball and lost it in the back of the net.
B-G advances to face familiar opponent Oxford, who earned a bye as the third seed, on Friday at 3:30 p.m., but the game time could change. In the regular season, B-G defeated Oxford in a close 3-2 game.