Fifteen seconds isn’t that much time, and in high school girls soccer it’s only a trace of game action within an 80-minute contest.
Yet that was enough time for the Marcellus Mustangs to notch both of its goals in the first half of Tuesday night’s Section III Class B semifinal at Nottingham High School, and it proved enough for a 2-1 victory over the Skaneateles Lakers.
And it sets up another championship showdown between top seed Marcellus and its long-time antagonist, no. 2 seed Westhill, for the sectional title Friday night at SUNY-Cortland, since the Warriors held off no. 3 seed Lowville 1-0 in the other semifinal Tuesday at Chittenango High School.
Marcellus had met its neighbors from Skaneateles just once in the regular season, a game that ended in a 0-0 draw on Sept. 15. It was different now, partially because the Lakers were without one of its top player, Tate Green, who suffered a broken leg in her team’s sectional quarterifnal win over Holland Patent.
Less than six minutes into the game, the Mustangs nearly had its own problem when Madi Belvito, on a charge to the net, banged knees with Skaneateles goalie Mae McGlynn.
Belvito had to be helped off the field, but would return later in the game and contribute on defense after a stunning sequence put her team in front.
Just past the midway point of the first half, Marcellus earned a corner kick. Keelin Kelly delivered it right to the goal line, where Jada Sargeant poked it past McGlynn and the Mustangs led, 1-0.
Often, the most vulnerable moment for a team is right after a goal. But just after Skaneateles kicked it off, the Mustangs regained possession and Sargeant delivered a perfect pass to a streaking Liz White, who fired home a second goal just 15 seconds after the first one.
The combination of that outburst and some nice stops from goalie Meg Blystone gave the Mustangs a 2-0 cushion going to the second half that, as it turned out, was needed.
In the 52nd minute, Skaneateles pulled within one when Lauren Goodchild delivered a superb shot from the left side that eluded Blystone and found the top right corner of the net.
From that point on, the Mustangs, instead of sitting back, increased its own pressure, and rarely let the Lakers get good opportunities the rest of the way.
Still, Catie Woodruff, who scored all four of the Lakers’ goals against Holland Patent, made a scary rush in the 57th minute that Blystone, who finished with six saves, had to turn away. And another shot by Goodchild with three minutes left on a free kick went over the net.
Just after it had won, Marcellus found out that, once more, Westhill would await them in a sectional final following the state no. 4-ranked Warriors’ own tough struggle with Lowville, who entered the game 16-0-1 and no. 2 in those same state rankings (Marcellus is at no. 14).
It didn’t take long for Westhill, who had faced much tougher competition during the regular season than Lowville did, to put pressure on the Red Raiders’ defense and its top-flight goalie, Alexis Bach.
For most of the game, Bach turned everything away, and eventually finished with 10 saves. But with 6:28 left in regulation, the Warriors pushed again, and off a rebound of Katelyn Karleski’s free kick that Bach stopped but could not hold on to, Megan O’Reilly poured in the rebound for the go-ahead goal.
From there, Westhill held on and awaited another meeting with Marcellus. Those two sides played to a 0-0 standstill early in September. Nearly two months later, the stakes will be a lot higher.
It wasn’t a clean sweep of the sectional girls soccer semifinals by the local sides, though, as West Genesee, the no. 5 seed in Class AA, lost it semifinal to top seed Baldwinsville 2-0 at Christian Brothers Academy’s Alibrandi Stadium.
Trying to avenge a pair of regular-season losses to the Bees (6-0 on Sept. 21, 2-0 on Oct. 13), WG found itself in a defensive mode most of the way, but did a good job of it during the first half, only breaking when Mackenzie Schaffner, in the 12th minute, put a shot past Wildcats goalie Emma Madonna.
For a long while, it stayed 1-0, largely because WG’s defense battled against every B’ville charge and Madonna was particularly good, finishing the night with 12 saves. But with 13 minutes left, B’ville’s potent duo of Bella May and Jade Gentile paired up as Gentile, off a feed from May, put in the insurance goal.
The Bees advanced to face defending champion Liverpool in Saturday’s sectional final at Fulton, while the Wildcats completed a 6-9-3 campaign as just five seniors graduate, though Madonna is one of them.
