CORTLAND – Having waited two long decades to land the program’s fourth state championship, the Marcellus girls soccer team was in no mood to wait any longer.
In a stunning start to Sunday’s state Class B final at SUNY-Cortland the Mustangs, justifying its own expectations and the pressure of holding the top spot in the state rankings all season, scored twice in the game’s first six minutes and rolled from there to a 4-0 victory over Long Island’s Cold Spring Harbor.
“It means everything,” said senior defender Allie Coombs, who anchored a defense that did not surrender a goal in eight post-season games. “This moment is really fulfilling.”
Lexie Fragnito, who had a three-goal hat trick in the state final, called her team’s accomplishment “unreal”, and partly it had to do with just how dominant the Mustangs were right from the outset against the Seahawks.
Just 3:47 into the game, Corrine Aldrich’s cross from the left side was mishandled by CSH goalkeeper Charlotte Madigan, and Powell was standing right there, quickly banging the ball into the net.
Less than two minutes later the vaunted Marcellus fast break made it 2-0. Sprung by a perfect pass from Sophia Pilon, Fragnito took it at full speed, dribbled around a defender and hit a hard shot home.
These twin blows – Powell’s 29th goal and Fragnito’s 40th goal – allowed Marcellus to play close to any way it wanted. According to head coach Laurie Updike, it also forced her to change her game plan – a good problem since, as she put it, those early goals “put your whole mind at ease.”
In the 27th minute a CSH free kick was hit by a Marcellus hand inside the 18-yard box. Given a penalty kick, the Seahawks’ Jaida Luparello’s shot bounced off the crossbar – and right into the hands of goalkeeper Tenly Baker, who caught it and held on.
Led by Coombs, Pilon, Drew Johnson, Olivia Vitale and Marielle Kennedy the Mustangs would record an eighth consecutive playoff shutout, managing to go through nearly 700 minutes of soccer without surrendering a goal.
“Our defenders complement each other and we were really cohesive,” said Coombs.
Twice Baker ventured well out of the net to get the ball during Seahawks attacks early in the second half, either of which could have switched momentum.
Then Fragnito returned to apply the decisive blows. With 19:04 left off a Seahawks turnover Fragnito, from at least 30 yards out, crushed a perfect shot into the top center of the net which Madigan had no chance to stop.
Fragnito did it again from the left side on a 35-yard blast seven minutes later, completing a state title game hat trick and allowing the Mustangs to fully savor the end to its 20-year quest, getting its entire roster on the field before the game was over.
Before all this, Marcellus first had to get through last Saturday night’s state semifinal at Cortland High School where it took on Section I’s Bronxville, who had a much more recent state title in 2021 upon which it could draw inspiration.
Nothing, though, could stop the Mustangs from putting away the Broncos 3-0, getting a first-half goal from Powell to move out in front. Aldrich and Johnson provided the cushion with second-half goals, Aldrich also earning an assist.
Bronxville did apply plenty of pressure throughout the game, but the Mustangs’ defense again turned them back as Baker turned back all 13 shots she faced.
CSH had edged Hornell 1-0 in the other semifinal. Of course, Marcellus endured its own 1-0 overtime dramas in both the Section III final win over CBA and the regional final victory over Mechanicville and, with its complete effort against the Seahawks, would not have to worry too much.
So a season that began with Updike getting inducted into the New York State High School Girls Soccer Hall of Fame ended with another milestone far more important to her, the players and all the fans of Marcellus soccer.
“My heart is full,” said Updike, savoring her team’s celebration that would continue all the way back to a big welcome back in Marcellus later on Sunday evening.
What’s more, the Mustangs have a good chance to do this again in 2025, with Powell, Fragnito and Tenly Baker leading a large returning cast, though some strong seniors depart, including Aldrich, Coombs, Johnson, Vitale and Jadyn Baker.
