STAC BOYS SOCCER: WAVERLY DROPS SEASON OPENER TO OWEGO (September 2, 2026)

By TIM TAYLOR
Valley Sports Report
OWEGO — Minutes on the pitch played in Owego’s favor as the River Hawks blanked Waverly, 3-0, in STAC boys soccer action here Wednesday evening.

Owego scored twice in the 12th minute to take control of the action and force the visitors to play catch-up.

“Not the result we were hoping for, however, a lot of positives to take going forward the rest of the season,” said Waverly coach Jon Rankin. “This was our first match and it showed. Owego is a well-coached team, and they were able to work out any first-game kinks versus Elmira (Monday).

“They came out hard and fast and capitalized off our errors. Once we regained our composure, we were able to string together some promising attacking opportunities.

“Cohen Kraft, Lucian Kraus, Ian Johnston, and Hayden Roscoe stepped up big time to give us a chance on goal. James Cole was playing very well tonight. He came in clutch on a couple 1-v-1s and some dangerous chances generated by the OFA offense. He recorded 19 saves in net.”.

Although the action was mainly taking place in the Waverly end, the Wolverines held Owego at bay for the first 11 minutes of play.

That would finally end when Owen Hallenbeck slipped behind the Waverly defense and scored from 10 yards out at 28:58 to make it a 1-0 contest.

About 3 ½ minutes later, at 25:29, Owen Raeff fired a shot from the 18 into the upper left corner of the goal to give the host a 2-0 advantage.

The Wolverines would tighten up on defense and the score remained 2-0 until 3:03 of the second half when Cooper Fain headed Fineas Duffy’s corner kick high into the net to make it 3-0.

While the River Hawks controlled possession and momentum for the majority of the match, Waverly’s offense did show signs of life.

“Shaky to start, however, throughout the rest of the match, we started to regain our composure and started to play much, much better soccer,” Rankin said.

Owego, which has won three of the last four Section IV championships, came in with a match under its belt while the Wolverines had not yet experienced any type of competition.

“It's tough having an opponent like Owego as our very first match of the season, not having any time to have a scrimmage or to combine with another team and do something,” Rankin said. “They ended up playing Elmira a couple of days ago, and they made their adjustments, and they played very well tonight.”

The River Hawks took 21 shots on goal while holding Waverly to two. Cole had an impressive season debut guarding the Wolverines’ goal.

“James Cole was absolutely amazing,” Rankin said. “If he's not in goal, we probably get scored on a handful more times.”

Several other Wolverines had impressive performances as well.

“I would have to say Wyatt Chandler, brand new to soccer, played left back, played very, very well,” said Rankin. “Cohen Craft as well, he was able to get us out of some really tricky situations and redistribute the ball nicely. So the pieces are there.

“With this match under our belt, we have a better foundation going into our next match.”

That match will be Tuesday against Johnson City at Waverly’s Veteran's Memorial Stadium at 6:30 p.m.

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IN PHOTO 1: Waverly’s James Cole. IN TOP PHOTO: Waverly on the defensive. … PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.

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