Through a long and hot Saturday afternoon, the Fayetteville-Manlius and Jamesville-DeWitt girls soccer teams slugged it out in the championship game of J-D’s fifth annual King of the Hill Tournament.
And when it finally ended, it was the Hornets on top, beating the Red Rams in a penalty-kick shoot-out after they played to a 2-2 draw in regulation and a 3-3 tie at the end of two overtime periods.
Three times, J-D went out in front, showing the skill and excitement level that has made them back-to-back Section III Class A champions. Each of those three times, F-M would come back.
With hot temperatures and a heat index near triple digits, the Rams wasted little time, seizing a 1-0 lead on Maddy Devereaux’s hard shot from the right side 4:13 into the game. Barely a minute later, F-M sophomore Alexis Muraco, off a perfect feed from junior Cheyenne Hall, burst through the Rams’ defenders and beat Abbey Smith to tie it.
J-D dominated the rest of the first half, doing its best work after mandated breaks, at 15-minute intervals, for water to deal with the heat. Only the spectacular play of F-M goalie Nina Quigley, who made several charging stops to keep the likes of Jessica Holmes, Tessa Devereaux and Maddy Devereaux from putting it in the net, kept it at 1-1.
They remained tied until the 58th minute, when J-D eighth-grader Allie Balotin deflected home Maddy Devereaux’s corner kick. That 2-1 lead didn’t last, either, as Hall tied it by curving in a free kick off a Rams defender.
Overtime involves a pair of 15-minute periods, played out in full. Worn down by the humidity, J-D still took a 3-2 edge in the first OT on freshman Caroline Kopp’s goal, only to have F-M come back again in the second extra period as Hall scored for the second time.
Only in the shoot-out, where Quigley, who finished with 12 saves, got more key stops, did the Hornets edge in front, capping a wild weekend of soccer.
Both teams got to the final with lopsided ease in Friday’s opening round. F-M bashed New Hartford 8-0, while J-D roared past Utica Proctor 11-0.
Hall and Muraco proved a lethal front-line combination against the Spartans, each of them notching three-goal hat tricks, with Hall getting three assists and Muraco two assists. Marri Ryu and Frankie Bowyer also converted, with sophomore Rachel Dise adding a pair of assists. Jessica Puro also had an assist.
J-D, like F-M, scored four goals in the first half against Proctor, but then zoomed past double digits by the time it was done.
Eight different players would get a goal, led by Tessa Devereaux’s hat trick. Holmes notched two goals and three assists. Balotin and another eighth-grader, Paige Sherling, found the net, as did Emily Elbers, Olivia Ferlenda, Ella Digiovanni and Maddy Devereaux.
As this was going on, East Syracuse-Minoa also won its season opener, going to Homer on Friday afternoon and shutting out the Trojans 3-0.
Gaining a 2-0 lead by halftime, the Spartans never let Homer into the argument. Three returning players – Amanda Wall, Alex McEachron and Olivia Chopskie – got the three goals, with goalie Casie Auricchio stopping all five shots she faced.
