STAC GIRLS SOCCER: WAVERLY DROPS DEFENSIVE BATTLE IN REMATCH WITH OWEGO (September 29, 2026)

By TIM TAYLOR
Valley Sports Report
OWEGO — Waverly and Owego combined for five goals when they met to open the girls soccer season. Boy, how things have changed during the past four weeks.

For more than 65 minutes the two teams were entrenched in a scoreless battle, with strong defensive efforts dictating the action before the River Hawks found the back of the net to post a 1-0 STAC Central Division victory here Tuesday evening.

“We know Owego always has strength,” Waverly coach Tara Hogan said. “They're always a good rival, always a strong team.

“We beat them by one goal the last time we saw them, but that was in the very beginning of the season. Now that we've had a chance to settle in, we've seen other teams, some good competition, so to come back together, we knew this was going to be something to pay attention to.

“We know their key players, we know who to watch and try to keep an eye on, an extra close eye on, and same thing vice versa. They know these girls. A lot of the girls play club together, they know who to watch and shut down, so because of those key players being shut down, it really kind of fell to a lot of defense, a lot of the goalies getting good action too.”

The lone goal came when Owego’s Ashlyn Dalton retrieved the ball near midfield, worked it down to 13 yards out and fired a shot between two defenders and into the upper right side of the net with 14:34 remaining in the match.

“Like I said, that's a player. I know they moved her a little bit, so we were trying to figure out, is she going to stay on the left side, is she going to be more in the middle? She was everywhere and she's a solid player, she's one you can't lose track of and we didn't.

“I felt like our defense did a fantastic job in shutting her down for the most part, and then she found that opening and took a fantastic goal.”

It was the eighth consecutive win for the River Hawks, whose only loss this season has been a 3-2 setback against the Wolverines on Sept. 1.

The first key scoring opportunity for Waverly came in the 21st minute of the first half as Gianna Soprano headed a corner kick to the right side only to have Owego goalkeeper Kendra Turshman deflect the ball away.

The River Hawks applied heavy pressure three times in the final 10 minutes of the half, but the Waverly defense turned them away twice and another shot by Lilliana Pelifian hit the side of the right upright.

“I said to my goalie, that's the type of scenario if they're messing around with the ball inside the 6, you’ve got to come out,” said Hogan. “It's an experience thing. She's still young. We're still working with getting her more confidence. But I said, your soldiers came right to you and they protected you again.

“There were two times I think number 15 (Elise Silvanic) was just kind of trying to find the perfect touch for her and thank God you got Makenzie (Olmsted) or Hannah (Carpenter) or Sophia (Dorsey) directly in front of her and were able to be a human shield.

When Waverly goalkeeper Taylin Gonzalez was scooping up the ball, she would follow up with booming punts traveling half the length of the field or more.

“She's gotten stronger,” said Hogan. “She's learning the technique of it. In the beginning of the year, it was like she's dropping it, or then she was holding it too high. She's got to find her zone. She's not brand new. She did play last year. She didn't get a ton of playing time last year with Claire Clonch being in for us, but she got time in and she's got great energy. We just need more confidence from her.”

The Wolverines came out in the second half and looked to grab the lead on a pair of long shots by Maci Wheeler in the 56th and 58th minutes, but the first hooked left and the second drifted left.

Dalton looked to break the scoreless deadlock in the 60th minute, but Gonzalez came up with the save.

Waverly slips to 4-3 (5-4 overall) and hosts Central co-leader Chenango Valley (6-1,7-1) on Thursday. Owego (6-1, 8-1) remains in a tie with CV and hosts Oneonta (3-4,3-6) on Thursday.

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IN PHOTO 1: Waverly’s Maci Wheeler (4). IN TOP PHOTO: Waverly’s Sophia Dorsey. … PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.

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