Strong 2nd Half lifts Frewsburg over Allegany-Limestone

Section VI fall season kicked off earlier this week

Coming off their sixth consecutive Section VI Class C title in girls soccer a season ago, the Frewsburg Lady Bears graduated a lot of talent that had been anchors of the team for several seasons - the likes of Kealy Caflisch, Kaylee Cappa, and, of course, Ava and Taytum Jimerson.

On a Friday afternoon that felt more like a day in late September or October than late August, Frewsburg would host Allegany-Limestone, themselves having made three consecutive Section VI Class B final appearances. It would be the youngest of the Jimerson sisters - Jaden - that would step up in a key moment. The sophomore collected two goals in the first game of the season for the Lady Bears, as they used a three-goal second half to rally to a 3-2 victory over Allegany-Limestone. 

“We like to say every year, we have to find out who we are,” said head coach Scott Stone. “Sometimes it takes a little while, but we’re starting to find out already. We’re super young - we started four freshmen today, but we have a bunch of fighters and a bunch of dogs that are willing to fight as hard as they can for 80 minutes.”

After controlling the first ten minutes of the game, Frewsburg had the script flipped on them as the Lady Gators would rattle off a handful of opportunities before Madison Honeck cashed in on a chance in front to give Allegany-Limestone a 1-0 lead into the break.

After the intermission, the Lady Bears put on a relentless attack and were rewarded with a goal in the game’s 50th minute, when junior midfielder Audrey Eckwahl broke free and split the defense, and fired a shot into the bottom right corner to tie the game at 1.

“Audrey is an amazing player,” Stone remarked. “She had a great season last year, but now she’s the leader of this team. She runs the middle, and she gets forward. The first goal on the board gave us a little bit of a life. I can’t speak highly enough of Audrey, she plays soccer all year round and it shows.”

With the game even, Allegany-Limestone struck back just four minutes later, as Kennedy Honeck tied the game after her sister Madison fired a shot that rang off the crossbar, and landed at the feet of the eldest sister that she was able to easily tap into the net to give the Lady Gators a 2-1 lead.

Just as quickly as Allegany had retaken the lead, did Frewsburg have an answer, as Jaden Jimerson would fire a missile from the top of the 18-yard box to once again bring the game level in the 57th minute.

“We still have a Jimerson,” Stone said of Jaden. “She’s following in the footsteps of her sisters. She holds herself to a high standard. That first goal was an absolute rocket off the volley.”

Wearing her older sister Ava’s number 21, Jaden would unlock the clutch gene in the 73rd minute, where she received a pass from Presleigh Stelmack, dribbled into space, and curled a beautiful shot over the head of the Gators’ junior goalkeeper Kenna MacArthur to put Frewsburg ahead 3-2 in the late stages of the game. “I’ve coached Jaden since she was seven years old, and she scores goals at every single level, and this is no different,” said Stone.

As for the four freshman starters - Charlie Lombardo, Gabriella Dumaine, Stelmack, and Rozlyn Haglund - all helped lock down the final seven minutes to secure the win for Frewsburg. “We tell all our freshmen: your job is to go out there and play as hard as you can,” said Stone.” There’s going to be mistakes, there’s going to be a learning curve, but as long as you’re playing as hard as you can and playing defense, we can live with the mistakes and work to correct them. All four of them played great today. They played a ton of minutes, and I feel like they’re going to get better every single game, every single minute they’re on the field.”

Not to be forgotten, sophomore goalkeeper Elysse Gruber made some 10 saves to keep the Gators at bay, and kept Frewsburg within striking distance the entire way. “She’s going to put people on notice,” remarked Stone. “She played on the silver team in the [NY/PA] Corporate Cup, and she has a chip on her shoulder right now. Any chance she gets to come out and show the caliber of player she is back there, she’s going to do it.”

Frewsburg will have another non-league contest before their CCAA III opener, as they will host Southwestern on September 5th at 4:30PM before hosting Silver Creek/Forestville on September 10th. Allegany-Limestone will open up CCAA I play on September 3rd on the road against Olean, set for a 7PM kickoff. They will host Pioneer the next day at 5:30PM in their home opener.

There are three girls soccer games on the Section VI schedule for Saturday:

Starpoint @ Lockport

Eden @ Salamanca

West Seneca @ Williamsville North

Photo Gallery Courtesy of Alex Kolstee/WNYAthletics