HERKIMER – The Region III soccer season sets up to end the way it started for two top seeds from Mohawk Valley Community College. The Mohawk Valley men and women travel to Herkimer College’s Wehrum Stadium on Friday for a Division III championship doubleheader Friday against the Generals.
The undefeated and third-ranked Mohawk Valley men started their 4-0-0 season with a 3-1 win over the fourth-ranked Generals (4-1-1) April 9. Herkimer has not lost since and will have coach Pepe Aragon Jr on the sideline for the rematch.
Herkimer had already played Monroe Community College with the women taking a loss and the men playing to a scoreless draw.
The Mohawk Valley women also are unbeaten (3-0-1) and ranked third in the nation. The Hawks also won 3-1 at Herkimer in April. The Generals are now 3-2-0 and ranked fourth nationally with victories in their last three matches.
The regional playoffs were trimmed to single matches for the abbreviated spring season with the top seeds intended to host championship matches. Mohawk Valley declined hosting and the Herkimer women completed the championship field with a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Genesee Community College May 11.
Friday’s winners advance to the NJCAA’s national tournaments, which also were changed by COVID-19 scheduling. Herkimer was supposed to be the site for the women’s championship for the fall of 2020. Wehrum Stadium will instead host the men June 2-5 while the women head to Union County College in Cranford, New Jersey.
The men play first Friday with a 4 p.m. start. The women are scheduled to begin play at 6:15 p.m.
The women’s match features several key players familiar to area fans from their high school days. Mohawk Valley’s Reilly Rich, Isabella Bunce and goalie Cierra Doolen and Herkimer’s Jazmyn Gillette were teammates at Central Valley Academy.
The Generals also have high school graduates from Herkimer (Kurstin Gay), Dolgeville (Emma Bilinski, Alexis Smith and Hannah Spofford), Poland (Carliza Roark), Oppenheim-Ephratah-St. Johnsville (Abigail Johnson), Canajoharie (Taya Yacobucci), Sauquoit Valley (Raquel Burton), Whitesboro (Kayla Alsheimer), Clinton (Erika Arancio), Oneida (Kayla Suppa), Gloversville (Sydney Loux) and Morrisville-Eaton (Lizzie Spring), and Hailey Traut, a freshman from Frankfort-Schuyler is the current United Soccer Coaches Junior College Player of the Week and Region III Athlete of the Week for women’s soccer.
The Hawks’ roster represents Frankfort-Schuyler (Gianna DeSarro), Mt. Markham )Lily Briggs), Adirondack (Ciara Schaffner), Waterville (Taylor Hajdasz), Oriskany (Taylor Reid), Whitesboro (Alyssa Della Posta and Ariana Della Posta), Canastota (Alexandria Phillips), Clinton (Skyler Jones), Utica-Proctor (Nicole Casab and Emily Berube), Rome Free Academy (Katharine Balog), and Johnstown (Jenna Thompson).
Rich, who transferred back to the area from Nazareth College, tied Genesee’s Ashley Bliss for the region’s regular season goal-scoring lead with eight, including a hat trick against Genesee and four goals against Finger Lakes Community College in her last match May 4. Berube and Alyssa Della Posta each has scored three goals, Jenna Thompson has two, and Casab leads the Hawks with three assists. Doolen, who transferred from Russell Sage College, has one shutout at the back end of a defense that has allowed eight goals this spring.
Traut is the top scorer for the Herkimer women with five goals and four assists. Suppa has scored four goals, including two match-winners, while Gillette has two goals with four assists, and Smith also has two goals. Gay and the Herkimer defense have allowed nine goals this season but shut out two of their final three opponents.
Traut and Gillette are tied for second in assists in Region III. Traut assisted each of Herkimer’s goals in the 3-2 win over Genesee, all in the second half, including a tying goal by Bilinski and a winner by Suppa in the final four minutes of regulation play.
The high scorers for the men’s teams are Douglas Barrera Yanes (4 goals-1 assist), Fabio Hinojosa Jimenez (3-0), Houssam Serhan (3-2) and Andres Esteban Flores (0-4) for Mohawk Valley, and Ali Somow (6-1), Christ Valle (3-3), Alex Charles (2-3) and Heath Lucas (1-3) for Herkimer. Somow is the region’s top goal-scorer and Esteban Flores is second in assists. Manabu Takahashi has allowed four of the eight goals scored against the Herkimer defense while Carlos Acosta Viquez and the Hawks have allowed three goals as a team.
Jon Rathbun is a sportswriter for the Times Telegram. For unlimited access to his stories, please subscribe or activate your digital account today. Email Jon at sports@timestelegram.com.
