ALLEGANY — The NY/PA Corporate Cup Soccer Showcase returns this weekend for its seventh season of featuring the top high school soccer stars from both sides of the border.
Sunday’s slate of games at Allegany-Limestone High School brings the seventh year of the Corporate Cup boys game and sixth for the girls, and the games continue to grow.
Once again, this year’s showcase includes “silver” and “gold” games for both the boys and girls, with four games overall starting at noon with the boys’ silver, followed by the girls’ silver at 2:30, boys’ gold at 5 and girls’ gold at 7:30 p.m. In total, 176 players are part of the showcase on the eight teams after tryouts brought players from 45 different high schools.
The game’s organizers added an alumni game set for Saturday night at A-L.
Unlike senior showcase events in various sports, these games are open to high school players of all grade levels from the 2022-23 school year.
Several local high schools have strong representation on the New York teams after a competitive tryout process.
The Ellicottville boys’ team, the Section 6 Class D champion in 2022, has six players set to play on Sunday, three in the gold game and three in the silver.
Sam Edwards, William Benatovich and Aidan Harrington — all juniors — are set to play for the New York boys gold team. Junior EJ Doherty and sophomores Ben Edwards and Owen Doherty are all on the New York boys silver squad.
Ellicottville’s Section 6 Class D champion girls team has two players set to represent the Eagles in the girls’ gold game for New York: junior Audrey Hurlburt and senior Brooke Butler.
The boys’ gold game will also feature Randolph freshman Cooper Freeman.
The New York girls silver team has several contributors from area schools: two each from Salamanca, Randolph and Franklinville.
Salamanca has two seniors in the silver game, Mariah Downey and Grace Hodara. Randolph’s two silver team players are sophomore Quinn Pence and senior Alaina Bunker. Junior Olivia Frank and senior Sarah Courtney are set to represent Franklinville.
