GENESEO — Wilson needed to play a perfect game to knock off the reigning state champions, Byron-Bergen.
That’s a lot to ask. And in the end, the Lakewomen saw their season come to an end one win short of a state semifinal berth after losing 5-0 to Byron-Bergen in the Class C Far West Regional Saturday.
“I knew they were a good team, defending state champs. But we had watched them play,” Wilson head coach Jeff Hart said. “I felt like we really had a chance to win this game. I knew we were going to have to have one of our best games of the year and unfortunately that just didn’t really happen today.”
The Bees dominated the possession early on and it helped them find the back of the net twice with Mia Gray to give her team a 2-0 lead. Through the first 22 minutes of the opening half, the Lakewomen were marking the University of Florida commit, but once Gray scored her second goal, they called it off and that allowed the Lakewomen to open the game up more and play better than they had early on.
The Lakewomen only shot attempt of the first half came on a free kick from 40 yards out that was caught by the keeper, Rylee Burch.
At the break, Wilson had one shot on goal while goalie Brooke Urban made four saves. On the other side, the Bees had six shots on goal, three corners and Burch made one save.
The Bees put the game away with three goals in the second half to get the win.
It’s just a validation of the program,” Byron-Bergen head coach Wayne Hill said. “It’s nice to see that the hard work they put in all summer, all year pays off. So to me, I’m just a guy that’s lucky to stand on the sidelines. I get to watch them every day. So I’m happy when they’re happy and they played a great game, so they’re happy.”
In total, the Lakewomen were outshot 10-6 with the hosts having five corner kicks to the Lakewomen’s three.
The Lakewomen finished the season with a 17-2 overall record, having made their first Far West Regional game since 2015. Heading into this season, the Lakewomen had three goals, win the Niagara-Orleans league, win the Section VI title and win the state title. Despite falling short on the third goal, Hart encouraged his team to look at the bright side and be proud of all that they did accomplish.
“I’ve coached a lot of sports for over 20 years,” Hart said. “This is probably one of the most special group of kids I’ve ever coached. It’s a tight knit group. They’re all friends. They all hang out. I’m just going to remember all the Tiktoks they made and the songs they sang and team parties and team dinners and everything else.”