Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Medina FC goalie Tyler Ribbeck males a sliding kick save to stop a shot by Ukraine’s Soloman Bonane as Medina’s James Foley moves in to support during Sunday evening’s playoff semifinal  at Vets Park.

Avenging a 1-0 regular season loss, No. 4 seed Ukraine upended the top seeded Medina Mustangs FC 2-1 in the semifinal round of the Buffalo District Soccer League 1st Division playoffs Sunday evening at Vets Park.

A quick two goal scoring burst late in the first half proved to be just enough offense to send Ukraine into next Sunday’s playoff final against No. 2 seed Mandem which downed No. 3 Honey Badgers 2-1 in the other semi.

Nate Dillenbeck scored the lone Medina goal in the final five minutes off an assist from Aiden Prince.

Medina finishes the season with a 9-1-1 record while Ukraine advances with a 6-3-3 mark.

Medina’s William Hawken works to get around Ukraine defender Jordan Gibson.

Contributed Photo – Melanie Green in action today at the Four Wins Invitational.

An even par final round score of 72 today was good enough to earn Medina’s Melanie Green a share of second place at the Epson Pro Golf Tour’s Four Winds Invitational at South Bend, Indiana.

An eagle on No. 7, which off set a double bogey on No. 2, highlighted the round which also included a birdie on 9 and a bogey on 11.

Green, who started the day at 8 under, made par on each of the final seven holes to finish the tournament with that 8 under margin.

She opened the tourney on Friday with a 3 under par round of 69. She bettered that score on Saturday with a 5 under par round of 67 which included a burst of four straight bridies.

Green finished the tournament with a three day total of 8 under par 208.

This marks the 8th time in 15 starts that Green has finished in the top 10.

She also entered this week’s tourney ranked No. 3 in Epson’s Race for the Card competition and her tie for second will keep her near the top.

At the end of each season Epson presents LPGA Tour Cards to the top 15 point getters and Green is now in a strong position to earn one of those coveted cards which would put her on the LPGA Tour next year with only four regular season tournaments plus the championship tourney left on the schedule.

The Medina Mustangs 17U baseball team scored a pair of victories this afternoon to capture the Cheektowaga Tournament championship.

The Mustangs first blanked the Lugnuts 10-0 in the semifinals and then downed the Knights 9-2 in the championship game.

Medina 10, Lugnuts 0
Back-to-back three run scoring innings sparked Medina to a 10-0 semifinal win over the Lugnuts.

Breaking away from a scoreless deadlock, Medina took the lead for good by scoring three times in the second inning on an RBI double by Carter Woodworth, an RBI single by Kolton Fletcher and a wild pitch.

The Mustangs quickly doubled their lead to 6-0 by scoring three times in the third on RBI sacrifice flies by Brody Fry and Cam Noonan and an error. Singles by Colton Smith and Vinny Gray ignited the uprising.

Medina later added three more runs in the fifth without the benefit of a hit on an error, two walks, an RBI sacrifice fly by Fry, an error and a passed ball and one in the sixth on a steal of home.

Woodworth, Noonan and Lukas Grimes shared in the pitching duties combining for a 3 hitter with 5 strikeouts.

Medina 9, Knights 2
Leading 5-2, Medina put a lock on the title victory by scoring four runs in the fifth inning on an RBI single by Fletcher, an RBI sacrifice fly by Noonan, an error and a wild pitch.

Earlier, Medina scored twice in the second on an RBI single by Grimes and a balk following singles by Noonan and Brady Christiaansen, once in the third on a ground out and twice in the fourth on an error and an RBI single by Jimmy Dieter.

Defensively, the Mustangs turned a double play in the top of the seventh from Fletcher in right field to Gavin Heideman at first.

Fry picked up the win on the mound scattering 5 hits and striking out 6 over 6 innings.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Addie Crosier, who scored the Holley goal, heads the ball toward the goal off a corner. Following the play are Elliana Ebbs (13) and Elayna Velez (33).

Putting a lock on the title, Hilton downed host Holley 3-1 Saturday evening to wrap up the Rochester District Youth Soccer League girls U15 Division season.

Addie Crosier scored the lone Holley goal.

Hilton, which also scored a key 3-0 home field win over Holley recently to take over the division lead, finishes the season with an 8-1-3 record (27 points).

Holley finishes in third place at 6-3-3 (21 points) as Greece winds up in the runner-up spot with a 7-3-2 record (23 points).

Holley’s Philomena Arnold sends the ball up field.

The Medina Mustangs 17U baseball team earned a split of a doubleheader this afternoon to stay in contention for the title at the Cheektowaga Tournament.

Rebounding from a narrow 9-8 loss to the Knights, Medina earned the split by scoring in every inning for a 13-3 victory over the Lugnuts.

Medina is now 2-1 for the tournament which will continue at 12:30 p.m. Sunday as the No . 1 seeded Mustangs will play in the semifinals.

Knights 9, Medina  8
Trailing 8-6, the Knights pushed across three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning on two singles, a double and a balk to nip Medina 9-8.

Down 6-2, Medina had rallied into what proved to be a brief 7-6 lead by scoring 5 times in the top of the sixth on RBI singles by JJ Prynn, Cam Noonan and Brady Christiaansen along with a bases loaded walk by Kolton Fletcher and an error. A walk and singles by Carter Woodworth and Gavin Heideman loaded the bases to set up the opportunity.

Earlier, Medina took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third inning on an RBI single by Woodworth and a steal of home by Colton Smith who had reached on a single.

However, the Knights answered with 3 runs in the home half of the third and 2 more in the fourth to take a 6-2 lead and the sea-saw battle was on.

Medina did cut the deficit to 9-8 with a run in the top of the seventh on an RBI sacrifice fly be Heideman but could not pull even.

Smith, Woodworth and Heideman each finished with a pair of hits.

Defensively, Medina turned a pair of double plays the first from Vinny Gray at shortstop to Heideman at first in the fourth inning and the second from Fletcher in right field to Christiaansen at catcher in the sixth.

Medina 13, Lugnuts 3
Leading by a narrow 2-1 margin, Medina erupted for 4 runs in the third inning and 5 more in the fourth to key the 13-3 win over the Lugnuts.

Heideman had a two-run double, Christiaansen an RBI single and Prynn an RBI sacrifice fly in the third inning. A single by Gray and a hit batter set up the threat.

Noonan then had a two-run single, Prynn an RBI single, Fletcher an RBI sacrifice bunt and Gray an RBI on a ground out in the fourth.

Noonan also had a two-run single in the first inning and Gray an RBI double in the fifth.

Noonan and Gray both finished with 3 hits.

Heideman and Noonan shared the pitching duties combining for a 1 hitter with 8 strikeouts.

File Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Melanie Green

Keyed by a clutch run of four straight birdies, Medina’s Melanie Green posted a sparkling 5 under par round of 67 today to move into a tie for second place at the Epson Pro Golf Tour’s Four Winds Invitational at South Bend Indiana.

Green began the day 3 under par after Friday’s opening round of 69.

Starting on the back nine, she remained 3 under at the turn after posting a birdie on No. 11 and a bogey on No. 17.

However, Green turned things around in dramatic fashion on the front nine.

She erupted for birdies on 2, 3, 4 and 5 to go to 4 under on the day and 7 under for the tournament.

Keeping the momentum she also birdied her final hole of the day No. 9  to go 8 under for the tournament and finish with a 67 on the day.

Green now has a two day total of 136 which is 3 shots back of the leader heading into Sunday’s final round.

Two big back-to-back scoring innings powered the Medina Mustangs 17U baseball team to a 13-1 win over the Hamburg Dawgs this evening in the opening round of the Cheektowaga Tournament.

Breaking away from a 1-1 tie, Medina took the lead for good by scoring 4 runs in the fourth inning on a two-run single by Lukas Grimes, an RBI double by Gavin Heideman and an RBI single by winning pitcher Brody Fry.

Medina then broke the contest wide open by exploding for 8 runs in the fifth frame highlighted by a grand slam home run by Fry. A double by Cam Noonan, a walk and a single by Carter Woodworth loaded the bases setting the stage for Fry’s big blast.

The marathon innings’ other runs crossed the plate on an RBI double by Heideman, an RBI single by Brady Christiaansen, an error and a ground out.

On the mound, Fry allowed only 1 hit and struck out 12 in four innings of work.

Medina will play two games in the tournament on Saturday.

File Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Melanie Green

Registering birdies on two of the first three holes sparked Medina’s Melanie Green to a solid first round today at the Epson Pro Golf Tour’s Four Winds Invitational at South Bend Indiana.

Green got rolling by scoring birdies on the first and third holes.

She then had a birdie on No. 5 to offset a bogey on No. 4.

Green , who has scored top 10 finishes in four of the last five tournaments, later tacked on another birdie on No. 11 to finish with a 3 under par round of 69.

That put her in a tie for fourth place two shots back of the leaders with the afternoon session of the field still on the course.

The tourney will continue tomorrow, and then after the cut, conclude on Sunday.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Medina FC’s Caleb Suckow and his Mustangs teammates will host Ukraine in the 1st Division playoff semifinals Sunday evening at Vets Park.

The No. 1 seeded Medina Mustangs FC will host No. 4 Ukraine in the semifinals of the Buffalo District Soccer League 1st Division playoffs at 6 p.m. Sunday at Vets Park.

Medina earned the No. 1 seed by capturing the regular season 1st Division title with a 9-0-1 record which included a narrow 1-0 win over Ukraine.

Ukrane, which is 5-3-3, advanced to the semis by posting a 4-1 win over No. 5 Southern Tier FC in the quarterfinals.

The other semifinal will have No. 3 Honey Badgers vs. No. 2 Mandem. The Honey Badgers ousted No. 6 Celtic Brigade 2-2 in the quarterfinals.

The championship game will be held on August 10 at Nichols School in Buffalo.

In all 11 players have contributed goals to the Medina attack this season led by Nate Dillenbeck with 10, Peter Martillotta 7 and Cole Callard 5.

Ethan Leonard leads the Mustangs in assists with 6 as Greg Husung has 5 and Callard, Casey Winiecki and Aiden Prince 3 each.