Falling behind in a championship game is not an optimal strategy – most of the time, anyway. Yet it may have proved the primary reason why the Marcellus girls soccer team is, once again, the proud owners of a Section III Class B title.
It wasn’t until the Mustangs trailed long-time rival Westhill in Friday night’s sectional final at SUNY-Cortland that it started to display its top form, and that translated into a 3-1 victory over the Warriors.
“It’s a great feeling,” said senior Brielle Filtch, who scored the go-ahead goal late in the second half. “We really wanted to go all the way.”
That makes it four sectional championships in a row either won or shared by Marcellus, and this one, according to head coach Laurie Updike, was as much a product of heart as it was of talent, especially after Westhill went out in front.
“Our (12) seniors checked in,” said Updike. “They knew what they had to do. They had to buckle down.”
Of course, every game between Marcellus and Westhill has extra intensity. Add to it the stakes of a sectional title (Westhill was looking for its first championship since 2008), and it only gets bigger.
“Westhill is the yin to our yang,” said Updike. “Every time we play them, it’s a bundle of nerves.”
They sure were nervous throughout a scoreless first half. Westhill head coach Lisa Dwyer said her team had the best of the play in those 40 minutes, and the Warriors did earn a series of corner kicks and other set pieces that it could not convert.
Late in the half, Marcellus started getting great chances, too, but goalkeeper Sam Peebles, sweeper Shelby Stack and the rest of the back line maintained their poise, and it went to the break 0-0.
Just 3:16 into the second half, things got even better for the Warriors. Off Kelly Lippert’s free kick from the left corner, Marcellus goalie Emily Buschbascher had a difficult time gathering the ball, and Lindsey Lippert flushed a shot past her to put Westhill ahead 1-0.
That, however, would be the Warriors’ last great scoring chance. Dwyer said her team did not respond well, while Updike pointed out that her team had gone through the same thing the last time they played Westhill on Oct. 16, trailing by a goal in the second half before salvaging a 2-2 draw.
Drawing on that experience, the Mustangs pulled even in the 58th minute as Jada Sargeant, taking a pass from the right corner by Madi Belvito, ripped a shot that Peebles had no chance to stop, tying it 1-1.
Then, with 19:21 left, one of those Mustangs seniors, Jordin Wentworth, was injured in a collision in front of the Westhill net. The game halted as, for more than 20 minutes, Wentworth was attended to, eventually taken away in a stretcher.
During the long break, said Filtch, all the players rallied around a desire to win for their fallen teammate – and that’s exactly what happened.
Marcellus resumed its all-out attack, and with 13:02 to play, Filtch, again taking a deft pass from Belvito, drilled a low shot just inside the left post, past a diving Peebles.
Not content with a 2-1 lead, the Mustangs continued applying pressure, and clinched it when Sargeant, like Belvito a sophomore, fired a curving shot into the net for her second goal of the night.
Marcellus now advances to face Section II champion Schalmont Tuesday at 4:30 at Stillwater High School in the first round of the regional playoffs. The Mustangs lost to Schalmont 2-1 in this same round a year ago at Fulton Stadium.
