Section VI Girls Soccer: FLAMES SHUT OUT BILLIES, WIN 3-0

A battle between crosstown rivals saw the Williamsville East Flames shut out the Williamsville South Billies on Saturday by a score of 3-0.

It was a dominant performance by the Flames (6-2-1) and coach Chris Durr couldn’t have been happier with the outcome.

“I think we pretty much played a flawless game,” Durr said. “It was close for a bit there, but our kids really came to pay today. We struggled a bit last Wednesday, but we knew this was going to be a tough game – it always is against Williamsville South – and we took advantage of some really good opportunities to score.”

Early on, play was a bit choppy between the two teams as neither side could really get much going. That all changed when freshman Gianna Tuzzolino opened the scoring with her first goal of the contest midway through the first half, and then the Flames took control afterwards.

“Gianna just has a nose for being in the right place at the right time,” Durr said. “Those goals aren’t something where she just took the ball and made a great play. She just was in the right place at the right time, and she has a nose for the ball.

From then on, most of the play was in the Billies’ end, as the Flames had multiple chances to increase the lead and effectively suffocated any offense from Williamsville South. Tuzzolino later notched her second tally of the game before time expired in the first half, and Emma Scalione sealed the win by lighting the lamp with 18:48 remaining in the second.

Ariella Yonaty was in net for the Flames’ shutout, and Durr believed that the best was yet to come for his senior goalkeeper.

“Ariella’s been coming along,” Durr said. “She’s been really good at being aggressive and coming out of her box, and she’s learning. But she’s been getting better every game for us.”

A HUGE 3️⃣-0️⃣ road win over Williamsville South! Loved the effort and the focus today!! Freshman Gianna Tuzzolino with the game winner! Record: 6️⃣-2️⃣-1️⃣ Next up: at Amherst on Monday!@bufnewspreptalk @PatrickJNagy @willeastflames @WNYAthletics @WNYTomPrince @sportsunionwny pic.twitter.com/sNPMxhR67d — ⚽️Williamsville East Girls Soccer⚽️ (@WillEastGSoccer) October 24, 2020

The Flames will take on Amherst – who they lost 3-0 to on October 13 – in their next game on Monday, and Durr said that his team will be more ready for the Tigers this time around.

“Amherst beat us pretty bad a couple of weeks ago, and we’re looking forward to going over to their place,” Durr said. “If we play as well as we played today, it’ll be a great game. I think these kids want to show Amherst that we’re better than the team that they played against the last time.”