Ross sparks Neuqua Valley past Batavia

Batavia hasn't given up a lot of goals this season.

Neuqua Valley's Ryan Ross hadn't scored much lately.

The likelihood of the Wildcats senior having a huge offensive performance didn't seem likely during Wednesday's Upstate Eight Conference crossover title game, but then again sometimes the unlikely becomes reality.

Ross netted a hat trick and the Wildcats cruised to a 3-1 victory.

The game was originally scheduled for Tuesday but postponed due to heavy rains. The field was still compensating for those rains as Batavia's natural grass field had players slipping and sliding all over the pitch most of the night.

"A hat trick is always great and I love it," Ross said. "I couldn't have done it without my teammates though sending in some great balls there. The weather played a factor in it, but I would say that our hard work helped us put it away in the end."

Neuqua Valley (13-7-0) had been shut out in its previous two games, but set the tone early with Ross finishing a ball in from Reed Kurtenbach less than five minutes into the action.

Batavia (16-2-3) found itself down 2-0 when Ross scored again, taking a through ball from Xavi Ortiz. The duo connected several minutes later and the Wildcats had a 3-0 lead, becoming the first team to score more than two goals against Batavia this season.

"Ryan's had some good quality chances recently but hasn't been able to finish but he looked good tonight and probably was the difference in the game," Neuqua Valley coach Skip Begley said. "Now we've got some confidence and I always liken it to the Stanley Cup. You get someone who is hot scoring goals and a goalie throwing up zeros and you've got a chance to win."

The Bulldogs have shut out 10 opponents this year, but Wednesday just wasn't their night.

"I think this will help," Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. "When you're having a quality season and you're playing well and kind of rolling through it then it all seems like it's very easy, so maybe you need a bitter pill like this to refocus and then go from there, so it's a perfect time for that to happen."

The Bulldogs avoided being shut out when Charlie Marston finished a pass from Brandon Knapp with just under seven minutes remaining.

"We got everyone in," Gianfrancesco said. "We got in a lot of guys who especially don't get much time, which was one of the main intentions, so that was a good thing for sure."