Seven consecutive Section III Class A championships are nice. So are three trips to the state final four and two visits to the state title game.
But the Jamesville-DeWitt girls soccer team will not find complete satisfaction until the ultimate prize of a state championship, which again just eluded them in 2015 (a 1-0 defeat to Islip in the state final at SUNY-Cortland), finally is attained.
Six seniors graduated from last season, including Allie Balotin, Ciarra Norris, Paige Sherling, Chloe Hayward, Alex Fontana and Julia Fairbanks. Together, they formed most of the defensive resistance of a team full of strong strikers led by Alex Catanzarite.
Now Catanzarite and her fellow Red Rams are set for their 2016 title quest, and made an impressive season debut la Friday when J-D went to Swan Pond and recorded a 3-0 victory over Fayetteville-Manlius.
Absent any outright sectional title for the last 20 years, the Hornets had to see six seniors leave from its 2015 side that fell to Liverpool in the sectional Class AA semifinals, but even with a solid core of returning players, it did not do much against J-D’s relentless, swarming attack.
Fittingly, Catanzarite got it going when she sent a low shot past F-M goalie Sabrina Suriani just inside the left post in the 25th minute. It remained 1-0 until the second half, when Catanzarite’s pass from the wing fed Ali Durkin for a goal in the 51st minute and Lainey Foti converted in the game’s latter stages.
Alex Epifani and Anastasia Parks both earned assists, overcoming Suriani’s nine saves. F-M did have sporadic attacks throughout the afternoon, but only managed four shots against Rams goalie Katie Cappelletti, who stopped them all.
In a marquee match-up this Saturday, J-D hosts Baldwinsville, who made it to the state Class AA final a year ago, this following games against New Hartford and Auburn earlier in the week. F-M, meanwhile, gets a couple of weeks to rest before resuming play on Sept. 10 at Oswego.
