By Dean Russin

Sports Editor

Woe is the Tri-Valley League girls soccer team that catches Milford on a good day this season.

Thanks to 4.5 goals per game, the defending league champion Wildcats are off to a 7-1 start, including a 3-1 mark in the league. Although they are tied with Schenevus for the best league record in the East Division, Milford earned an early edge with a 4-0 thumping of the Dragons on Thursday.

Milford has outscored its opponents, 36-7, fueled by a 26-0 margin in its five shutouts. The last of those lopsided victories came Monday, when Milford routed host Edmeston, 4-0, in a rematch of the 2004 T-V title game.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]"We were a step behind the whole game, don’t ask me why," 12th-year Milford coach Lorin Campbell said of Monday’s victory. "All of our goals were good goals — they all came off our passing game — but other than that, we were one-to-two steps slow."

Sophomore forward Maria Arnot led the way against Edmeston with two goals and two assists, padding her team scoring lead to 35 points (14 goals, seven assists).

Arnot is one of three standout sophomores on the Wildcats, complementing first-year goalie Chynna Pitlock and midfielder Brenna Campbell (11 goals, seven assists).

"We know how to finish," Lorin Campbell said.

Finishing will be the key if the Wildcats — 3-0 losers to Worcester on Sept. 8 — are to emerge from a stacked East Division.

Schenevus (5-2, 3-1) has one fewer shutout than Milford, with its other loss coming against undefeated South Kortright of the Delaware League, 2-0, in an Aug. 31 season opener. Junior forward Brianna Bookhout has a team-best four goals and three assists for the Dragons, who reached the T-V final three straight seasons from 2000-2002.

"You don’t want to rule out Schenevus on our side," Campbell said of the Dragons, who earned a share of the 2001 T-V championship with a 1-1 tie against Gilbertsville-Mount Upton. "Even though we handled them easily, you just don’t know."

Until a 2-0 setback to G-MU on Monday, Worcester appeared to be the runaway favorite. The Wolverines (3-2-1, 2-1-1) opened their season Sept. 6 with a 2-1 non-league loss to undefeated Cooperstown, which has since defeated eight opponents by a combined score of 40-3.

More impressive for the Wolverines was their 3-0 stuffing of Milford on Sept. 8. In that game, returning junior forward Nicole Baker scored all three goals, with two assists from sophomore Megan Werkheiser and another from junior Sarah Grantier.

Baker and Grantier are holdovers from a 2003 Worcester team that reached the Class D state semifinals, as are starting junior goalie Emily Bristol and classmates Ashley Clark, Hilari Head, Amanda McHargue and Bethany Stein. Senior Amanda Nelson is the veteran of the group with state-semifinal experience.

"I think Worcester might be the front-runner," said Jennifer Moore, whose Cherry Valley-Springfield team rounds out the East Division. "They beat Milford, 3-0. I talked to JK (Worcester coach Jim Kenyon) and he said his girls played really well and stepped to the ball."

The senior-ravaged Patriots seem to be struggling to find a leader as junior Kim Daley, sophomore Savannah Whiteman and freshman Maggie Millner are tied for the team lead in goals with three apiece. CV-S ended a string of four shutout losses with a 6-1 rout at Laurens on Monday.

"We’re a young team," Moore said. "We’re going to be hot and cold all year."

While it’s still too early for a panic session in Worcester, which is 0-for-2 in the 15-year history of the T-V title game, the Wolverines definitely took a hit from G-MU on Monday.

The Raiders (6-4, 5-2), too, have been up and down thus far. Victories over Worcester and Class C’s Unadilla Valley (4-1 on Sept. 10) contrast sharply with a three-game skid in which G-MU was outscored, 12-1.

"We have seven returning seniors and 10 players who came up from JV," second-year G-MU coach Meghan Harding said. "We’re kind of looking to have the seniors carry some of the younger players. ... But we don’t understand how one game we can play so well and then turn around the next time and have such an off game."

Sarah Szollosy has emerged as the team leader with seven goals and an assist for the Raiders, who earned five straight T-V titles from 1999-2003, including shared crowns with Schenevus in 2001 and Milford in 1999. Senior twins Danny and Gabby Porter also return.

Nine players have scored goals for Edmeston this fall as the Panthers look to win their first outright T-V title since downing Milford, 3-2, in 1996.

Edmeston, declared league co-champions after a scoreless tie with Milford in the 1998 T-V final, started the season 5-2-1 overall and 3-0-1 in league play before Monday’s loss to the Wildcats.

"It depends on the day," said Edmeston coach Melanie Mumbulo, whose team opened the season Aug. 26 with a 4-0 rout of Delaware League power Margaretville. "One day, we look very good and the next day, I’m going, ’Oh my gosh!’ We’re very good, but it depends on which team decides to show up. I have a wide range of talent and ages, from seniors to eighth-graders."

Senior forward Cara Wust had 15 goals last fall for the Panthers, who boosted their strength with the additions of transfers Erin Olsen and Kori Hamm. Senior forward Olsen had two goals and three assists for Schenevus last season and is a key distributor from the center forward position. Hamm, a Dryden transfer, adds depth at midfield.

Mumbulo said Wust is dealing with an "ongoing problem" that affects both of her legs. That’s likely the reason Wust is off to a slow start, with two goals and one assist.

"With the system we’re running now, she doesn’t have to be our star," Mumbulo said of Wust, who has been shut out in five of Edmeston’s seven games. "We have 11 kids in the scoring column right now, so she doesn’t have to carry the load for us this year."

Wust did score in a 3-0 victory over G-MU on Sept. 7.

"She’s still dangerous for us," Mumbulo said.

Morris (2-2-1, 1-2-1), Laurens (2-4-2, 0-3-2) and Franklin (2-6-1, 0-4-1) will compete in the lower tier of the West Division.

The Mustangs return 2004 top scorer Bobbi-Jean Bryden, who finished with five goals for a team that went 3-15 last season. Bryden is off to a solid start in 2005 with nine goals. Kim Collison is the only other player on the Mustangs to score this season.

Sophomore midfielder Leandra Spoor has six of the Leopards’ 18 goals this fall. She had seven goals and six assists as a freshman.

After finishing with two goals and two assists last fall, senior midfielder Jael Schlafer is the top scoring threat of four returners for the Purple Devils.