Maybe at just the right moment, the Marcellus girls soccer team is finding the special form it has conjured up so many times in championship seasons past.
Faced now with the task of trying to conquer Class A, the Mustangs showed top form throughout the last week of the regular season, especially in last Tuesday night’s 3-0 shutout over playoff-bound East Syracuse-Minoa.
With a heavy wind at its back during the first half, Marcellus, shaking off Senior Night festivities, patiently worked to control the ball and not let it fly away, and that effort would pay off.
Jada Sargeant, on a long pass in the 20th minute, found a streaking Madison Belvito, who dribbled around ESM goalie Amanda Goodhines and put it into the net. Just 26 seconds later, Sargeant scored herself, and in an instant it was 2-0.
Once Sargeant returned to head in Belvito’s corner kick in the 50th minute, the Mustangs were in control. Still, the defense had to work had to preserve the shutout, Maggie Fiacchi making 10 saves and, even when Fiacchi was out of position, defenders like Kara Johnson would stand at the goal line and make a stop, as she did midway through the second half.
At Chittenango two nights later, the Mustangs were even more impressive, bashing the Bears 8-1. A 4-0 start in the first half was nearly doubled in the second half, with only Kristin Fitzgerald’s last-second penalty kick preventing a shutout.
Belvito, scoring twice and adding a pair of assists, led a well-balanced attack. Six others – Sargeant, Johnson, Bri Sammon, Shannon White, Jackie Madden and Michaela Tangredi – earned goals, too, with Sargeant matching Belvito’s two-assist output. Karen Cramer and Alaina Young also earned assists.
West Genesee had an opportunity last Tuesday night to upend defending Class AA champion Cicero-North Syracuse, pushing the Northstars into overtime – but wearing down late in a 3-0 defeat.
Having lost 4-0 to C-NS at Archie Hall Stadium on Sept. 27, the Wildcats saw how the Northstars had struggled to beat Baldwinsville and Whitesboro (by equal 3-2 margins) in the previous week, and tried to pounced.
During those first 80 minutes, the Northstars had its fair share of good opportunities, only to see them swallowed up by a tough WG defense anchored by goalies Rebecca Rothenberg and Emma Madonna, who combined for 12 saves.
Somehow, C-NS stayed patient through all this, and in the first OT period got on the board. When the Wildcats brought up players to try and counter, the Northstars took advantage of this by adding two more goals in the second extra frame. Hanna Haven, Ariah Rosas and Mary Kate Ordway picked up the goals, with Marissa Rio adding an assist.
Then, due to weather interruptions, WG’s game at Liverpool on Thursday was pushed to Saturday, where the Warriors would prevail, 1-0, on Ore Akinpelu’s second-half goal. Otherwise, the Wildcats turned back everything, Rothenberg earning eight saves, but none of WG’s six shots got past Liverpool goalie Julia Richey.
In one of the week’s biggest contests, Bishop Ludden took its second shot at state Class C no. 1-ranked Bishop Grimes, only to get victimized by a big outburst from the Cobras’ Kennedy Yearby in a 3-1 defeat.
When these two teams (who have several girls that play together for the combined Ludden/Grimes girls lacrosse team in the spring) met Sept. 12, Ludden played Grimes close in a 2-1 loss, and believed it could catch up in the rematch.
Yearby had other ideas, though. Three times in the first half, she broke loose from the Gaelic Knights’ defenders and put shots past goalie Kara Beamish, a natural hat trick that left Ludden trailing, 3-0, at the break.
To its credit, the Gaelic Knights settled down and got a goal from Emma Driscoll in the second half, but nothing more as the Cobras finished an undefeated (15-0-1) regular season.
Before that, Ludden claimed a rain-drenched 7-2 victory over Tyburn Academy, the same team it beat 6-0 earlier in the season.
There wasn’t a shutout the second time around, but the Gaelic Knights still saw Morgan Beamish, Danielle Rauch and Emma Driscoll each score twice, with Shannon Hunter adding a goal and Aubrie Murray gaining an assist. Rauch also had put in a pair of goals in that first game against Tyburn, with Beamish, Hunter, Murray and Liz DeMartino also finding the net.
The sectional playoff brackets came out on Sunday, showing that Ludden, in Class C, had the no. 5 seed and would face no. 12 seed Cooperstown in the first round, with a quarterfinal against defending champion Beaver River or Dolgeville should the Gaelic Knights get that far.
West Genesee was one of eight teams to get into the Class AA fray, and as the no. 4 seed hosts no. 5 seed Rome Free Academy in Thursday night’s quarterfinal, just as Marcellus, going into the Class A tournament as the no. 3 seed, will play no. 6 seed Carthage or no. 11 seed Camden in its sectional quarterfinal.
