For the seventh time in nine years, the Marcellus girls soccer team owns at least a piece of the Section III Class B championship.
However, the Mustangs could not advance to the state tournament. In Friday night’s Class B final at Chittenango High School, the no. 2 seed Mustangs lost to undefeated, top seed Lowville 3-2 in a penalty-kick shoot-out after regulation and overtime ended 0-0.
Marcellus still shares the sectional title with the Red Raiders. But just like in 2008, when it fell to Westhill in a shoot-out on that same Chittenango turf, penalty kicks undid the Mustangs’ dreams of a fourth state championship.
Throughout the night, the Mustangs’ main mission was to make sure that Taylor Haenlin, Lowville’s senior star (she’s going to Syracuse University), did not burn them.
McChesney Mastro, Faith Seeley, Dani Felty, Grace Bowhall and other defenders took turns marking Haenlin, but she still had a long series of opportunities, though none of them found the net. Goalie Margaret Choroser also made some strong stops throughout the night.
By the same token, Marcellus had many different chances to move ahead. Early and late in regulation, and controlled the ball for most of overtime, too. Late in the first OT period, Ellie Ryan appeared to get the go-ahead goal, but was ruled offsides.
They went through 80 minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of overtime without a resolution. So with the co-champions declared, Marcellus and Lowville went to the shoot-out, five penalty kicks apiece.
Haenlin converted for the Red Raiders, and goalie Chelsea Finn stopped Dani Felty’s attempt. Lowville went up 2-0 before Kathryn Busa converted her kick and Choroser dove to stop Madison Lyndaker’s kick, but Becca Nolan got stopped, too, leaving Marcellus down 3-1 with two attempts left.
Brielle Filtch had to make her kick in the fourth round, and did, leaving it 3-2, and Choroser stopped Lowville’s Anna Platz in the fifth round. Needing to convert to continue the shoot-out, Shannon Donahue, whose goal had beaten Westhill in the semifinals, hit it right to Finn, and it was over.
