A bleak and gloomy Thursday night saw something astonishing – the Marcellus girls soccer team ousted in its Section III Class B playoff opener, at home, as a no. 2 seed by no. 7 seed Clinton in a 1-0 decision.
To put this in perspective, the last time the Mustangs didn’t make it beyond the quarterfinal round of a sectional tournament was in 2009. Since then, it had won or shared five of the next six sectional championships, only missing in 2014 when it got bumped up to Class A and lost in the finals to Jamesville-DeWitt.
In other words, Marcellus, at least in the early rounds of sectional play, seemed close to automatic – except that Clinton didn’t hear about this and, in a tremendous all-around effort, put an early end to the Mustangs’ hopes of raising a record 21st sectional banner.
This was one of those games where something happened early, and it held up. Less than five minutes into the first half, Clinton was trying to apply some pressure when the ball popped loose near the Mustangs’ net and the Warriors’ Ericka Arancio was the first to it, catching Mary Colella out of position and slipping the ball past her into the net.
Were it not for another shot off the post in the early going, Clinton may have gone up 2-0, but instead the Mustangs’ defense settled down and blanked the Warriors the rest of the way, Colella and Grace Coon combining for 13 saves.
Though it had plenty of time to pull back even, Marcellus could not do so, stymied for most of the first half and denied even when the pressure picked up late in the game. Twice in the last five minutes, the Mustangs earned corner kicks but were stopped, and Olivia Bird’s low shot got gobbled up by Clinton goalie Kaitlyn Williams with 30 seconds left, her seventh save of the night.
So the Mustangs, despite its no. 8 state Class B rankings, were done at 13-4. And that was just one part of a dark day for local girls soccer fans, as West Genesee, in Class AA, and Bishop Ludden, in Class C, both lost at home, too.
West Genesee didn’t have the deep and rich history of playoff success that Marcellus owns, but the no. 4 seed Wildcats still expected to make it past no. 5 seed Fayetteville-Manlius in its sectional quarterfinal in Camillus.
Trouble came right away, though, when Ashley Carter, off a feed from Anna Hartzheim, scored in the first half to give the Hornets a 1-0 lead. To its credit, the Wildcats tightened up on defense and, in the second half, pulled even when Olivia Price found the net, assisted by Emma Parry.
And then the long wait for a decisive goal began. Through the rest of regulation, through 20 mandatory minutes of overtime and 10 minutes of sudden-victory OT, neither WG nor F-M was able to convert.
So the long battle went to penalty kicks. Each team got five shots, but that round didn’t settle anything so it went to another round where, finally, the Hornets triumphed, earning a shot at undefeated top seed Baldwinsville in the semifinals as the Wildcats’ season, once so full of promised, abruptly ended.
And it also would end for Bishop Ludden, the no. 6 seed in Class C, stopped at home 3-2 in overtime by no. 11 seed Dolgeville in its playoff opener.
None of this seemed likely when Lauren Hosek assisted on goals by Ally Weigand and Emma Driscoll in the first half. From there, though, the Blue Devils, led by goalie Bobbie-Lee Hall (17 saves), blanked Ludden and overcame a 2-1 halftime deficit with a goal in the second half and another in the second mandatory OT period.
Only Westhill, the top seed in Class B, survived the local carnage, handling no. 8 seed South Jefferson 4-0 in its sectional Class B quarterfinal.
The state Class B no. 2-ranked Warriors took a 2-0 halftime lead and then doubled it by game’s end as Erin McMullen scored twice, with Jayanna Monds and Carly Cristoforetti earning one goal apiece. Katelyn Karleski and Sam VanBuren had one assist apiece.
Before Marcellus and Westhill joined the fray, Jordan-Elbridge, holding the no. 13 seed, nearly sprang a first-round surprise at no. 4 seed Skaneateles in last Tuesday’s opening round, only to get overwhelmed in the second half of a 4-1 defeat to the Lakers.
Not caring much about the disparity between them, seeds-wise, the Eagles, who fell behind on Raenah Campbell’s early goal, tied it, 1-1, when Emily Somes converted in the 23rd minute, assisted by Emma Burns.
With Mia Arms strong in the net on her way to 12 saves, it stayed 1-1 through halftime, but less than five minutes into the second half, the Lakers gained control for good when Campbell, from long range, put it past Arms for the second time.
Less than eight minutes later, Skaneateles made it 3-1 when Shay McCarthy scored, and she converted again with 14:20 let to put the game away.
J-E finished its season with a 10-7 record, while Skaneateles went on to top Cazenovia 3-1 in overtime in Friday’s quarterfinal – which meant that the Lakers would face Westhill in one sectional semifinal, and the winner could meet Clinton in the title game if those other Warriors pulled off another surprise and topped no. 3 seed Lowville in the other semifinal.
