At the heart of what the Jamesville-DeWitt girls soccer team has accomplished throughout this remarkable 2015 season is the pain of what took place 12 months ago in the state semifinals at Tompkins County Community College.
Poised to get to the final and a shot at its first-ever state championship, the Red Rams instead lost, 2-1, to Section I champion Somers, giving up both of those goals in the last nine minutes of regulation, the game-winner coming on a controversial penalty kick – and what made it worse, the Tuskers went on to win it all.
A chance at a rematch between J-D and Somers, who have held the top two spots in the state rankings for most of the fall, appeared at hand, since the Red Rams and Tuskers were lined up to meet again, on that same TCCC field in Dryden, in next Saturday’s state semifinals.
But then Somers got knocked out in regional play by Section IX champion Goshen in penalty kicks on Tuesday night, likely putting the Rams atop the state rankings by the time the state final four rolls around.
Meanwhile, with a seventh consecutive Section III Class A title in hand, J-D ventured to Stillwater High School in last Tuesday night’s regional opener and conquered an old nemesis, defeating Section II champion Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake 2-0.
Five of the previous six times the Rams had reached the regional round, it had to face Burnt Hills, and J-D had gone 1-4 against the Spartans in those attempts, only prevailing in a tense 1-0 decision at Fulton in 2012 on the way to its lone state finals appearance.
Yet this was not as imposing a Burnt Hills side, the Spartans having required penalty kicks in the sectional semifinals before getting past Mohonasen 1-0 in the Section II finals.
Sensing this, J-D took the action right to Burnt Hills, and quickly seized a 1-0 lead early in the first half when Paige Sherling fit a perfect shot just inside the bottom right corner of the net.
Now the Rams were able to do what it has done to so many others this season – namely, possess the ball and put constant pressure on the Spartans’ defense. It didn’t lead to any goals the rest of the first half, but J-D’s 1-0 margin seemed a lot more comfortable because it wasn’t letting Burnt Hills establish its own attack.
Yet the second half remained a fairly tense affair. Spectacular work by Spartans goalie Anna Scott kept the game a one-goal margin for a long while, as she made a point-blank stop on Sherling and then twice robbed Alex Epifani with diving stops.
Through all this, the Rams stayed patient, and just kept charging. Finally, with 6:45 left, Scott couldn’t get a hold on yet another J-D shot, allowing Alex Catanzarite to put home the rebound for the insurance goal.
