The last time the two-time defending New York State champion Spencerport girl’s soccer lost a game was in the Section V playoff semi-finals three years ago.
Senior and University of Buffalo bound Leah Wengender scored three goals to lead the Rangers to a 5-0 victory over Gates-Chili in rainy and foggy conditions to extend their unbeaten streak to 57 games.
Wengender opened the scoring in the 21st minute after taking a feed from junior Maddie Tortora. The only other threat came in the final minute of the first half as Maddy Brongo had her attempt from 20-yards out stopped in what was a lackluster first 40 minutes.
“The halftime speech got us going,” Wengender said. “We were slow and kind of expecting it in warmups and the first half. We played well, but maybe mentally slow. But we found it and got it going.”
To the tune of four unanswered second half goals.
Wengender “bananaed” a corner kick into the net at 43:41 for her second of the game and, a little over two minutes later, had another corner kick deflected out right to foot of senior Natalie Choate, who found the back of the net from 25 yards out for her first goal of the season.
Freshman Alyssa Hackett assisted on the third Wengender tally in the 58th minute and, at 64:02, the Brongo sisters teamed up to close the scoring with freshman Lily passing to junior Maddy for her third of the campaign.
“We know they sometimes pace themselves for the long haul of the game or the season and we (the coaches) sometimes need to remind them to get it going while also keeping it fun,” Rangers head coach Jamie Schneider said.
Spencerport has three games remaining before attempting to defend their state title, including senior day October 12 for the final game of the regular season.
