Freshman Leah Wengender netted three second half goals as Spencerport broke up a scoreless duel to defeat Brockport 5-1 to maintain their top ranking in Class A girls soccer.
Each team had just one legitimate scoring chance in the first half. Ranger Erin Coykendall headed a cross from Aleah Martone over the crossbar in the 21st minute. Ten minutes later Brockport midfielder Emma Moulton took one step past a defender and just missed the far left post with her attempt.
The Rangers broke up the 0-0 halftime tie just 1:55 into the second half as Martone threw the ball in from the sideline to Wengender, who made an inside move on the defender before putting her shot from 20 yards out into the upper-right corner of the net.
In the 50th minute, Martone again had a throw-in – this time to Coykendall, who passed to Wengender. She walked in virtually unimpeded for her second goal of the game.
Martone found Maliah Benedetto with a cross from the left end-line for another tally in the 52nd minute to make it 3-0 Spencerport and they made it 4-0 two minutes later off an indirect kick. Senior captain Olivia Coccitto found Benedetto who passed to Coykendall for the goal.
Brockport broke up the shutout bid with 5:35 remaining when Moulton was tripped up in the box resulting in a penalty kick. Senior Tori Penders scored to make it 4-1.
Wengender completed the scoring at 66:20 after a perfect pass from Martone.
“It was exciting,” the freshman said about her first varsity hat trick. “We’ve been working on that where anytime Aleah (Martone) gets the ball she gets her head up and I make a run.
“We talked at halftime about not wanting a tie or go into overtime; basically we were sick of not scoring.”
The Rangers improved to 10-2-1 with the win.
