Yes, it was closer, and yes, the brackets and circumstances were a bit different. But the result was the same – Bishop Ludden’s girls soccer team seeing its dreams of greater glory denied by Sauquoit Valley.
In Wednesday night’s Section III Class C-1 final at Chittenango High School, the Gaelic Knights could not recover from a rough start against Sauquoit Valley, leading to a 2-0 defeat to the Indians.
All kinds of unique circumstances surrounded this game, all of which traced back to 2009, when Ludden won the C-2 championship and Sauquoit the C-1 title. In the overall final at SUNY-Cortland, the Indians won, 4-0, on its way to the state finals.
Fast-forward a year. This time Ludden and Sauquoit both landed in the C-1 playoff bracket, with the Gaelic Knights getting the top seed. In an odd twist, the Indians were the no. 3 seed – this despite rising to the top of the latest state Class C rankings (where Ludden was no. 4).
Both sides worked their way to the sectional finals – where Ludden, sporting a 15-0-1 record, was confident that it could reverse last year’s results against Sauquoit. But those feelings changed quickly.
Four minutes into the game, the Indians went ahead 1-0, Elena Marchione scoring off a feed from Sierra Kiss. The pair would hit again late in the first half, as Marchione’s foul led to a free kick that Kiss struck inside the top right corner of the net.
A lot of time remained, and the Gaelic Knights would get a fair share of opportunities to cut into Sauquoit’s two-goal margin. But Indians goalie Vanessa Jecko stopped all eight shots she faced and kept Ludden off the board.
Sauquoit advanced to face Waterville (who needed penalty kicks to get past Fabius-Pompey) in pursuit of back-to-back overall Class C titles.
Ludden, meanwhile, would see three seniors – Grace Rooney, Meaghan McGrath and Mary Ritchie – depart. But everyone else, including Mersadiz Hayes, Shelby Hunter, Kelly Granteed, Nicole Granteed, Emily Wheeler, Alex Szelewski, Liz Tully and Korey Kibling, could return for 2011.
