Rarely had a girls soccer game between Jamesville-DeWitt and East Syracuse Minoa meant so much.
On a Saturday evening at Spartan Stadium, the state Class A no. 4-ranked Red Rams would take on the Spartans, who despite its 11-1 record still wasn’t in the state rankings and had a lot to prove.
Both sides ended up getting something out of the outcome. J-D won the game, 2-1, but ESM had withstood an early barrage to make things interesting in the late going. And both sides had showed their generous spirit, too.
This was the “Kara Fund” game, named in honor of Kara MacDougall, the ESM student and soccer player diagnosed with cancer while an exchange student in Australia. After MacDougall passed away at age 17, the Kara Fund was established to raise money for families whose children were going through serious illnesses.
As a tribute, each of the ESM players had the name “MacDougall” on the back of their white jerseys on this night, while the entire J-D squad purchased purple T-shirts for Kara’s Fund and wore them during warm-ups.
Once the game got underway, the Rams tried to end the suspense in a hurry. Alex Catanzarite’s screaming shot into the top of the net just 3:35 into the first half had J-D in front, and Catanzarite converted on a penalty kick midway through the first half to make it 2-0.
From that point on, and deep into the second half, the ball rarely left ESM’s end, yet Spartans defenders Olivia McEachron, Anna Markert, Claire Maring and Hailey Cwilka kept turning J-D away and maintained that two-goal margin.
Thus, when Lauren Ott, off a J-D turnover, converted near the midway point of the second half and moved ESM within one, the home crowd was energized, even more so when Marissa Greiner bore down on the net a few minutes later, only to have Katie Cappelletti make a sliding save 20 yards in front of her net.
Now it was the Rams’ defense needing to step up, which it did as Hayley Quackenbush, Grace Bridge and Ana Parks turned the Spartans back, and the rest of the J-D players possessed the ball in the waning minutes to preserve that slim lead.
ESM started to tune up for this showdown last Tuesday night, hosting Cortland and working hard for a 3-1 victory over the Purple Tigers.
It was tied, 1-1, at halftime, thanks to a goal by Cortland’s Lillian Quick, with Shayla Marsh earning the assist. Ott’s long shot had found the net for the Spartans, who stayed patient and, midway through the second half, went in front for good.
Ott did the honors, finding the net for the second time on the night in the 58th minute, but the Spartans had to keep on applying pressure until Franchesca Polcaro, off a feed from Maria Markert, put in the insurance goal.
Then, facing Central Square on Thursday night, ESM pulled out a 2-0 decision, and Polcaro handled the production part, scoring both of the Spartans’ goals to put them at 11-1 with the Red Rams next.
J-D, meanwhile, got through back-to-back games, starting last Wednesday against Homer, where the Rams unloaded in the first half of a 7-1 romp over the Trojans, netting five unanswered goals as Catanzarite led the way again, scoring three times for a hat trick and adding an assist.
Elena Haarer picked up two assists as Alex Epifani, Ali Durkin, Tonia Kousmanidis and Lainey Foti earned one goal apiece. Sydney Baker had an assist. Nina Armideo’s goal broke up a possible J-D shutout, but Homer goalie Anna Gugerty had to make 18 saves to keep the Rams from getting to double digits.
At home again on Thursday night, the Rams topped its Homer effort, at least in terms of production, and earned an 8-0 shutout with another first-half outburst that, this time around, featured six goals as Sophia Dimkopoulos returned to the spotlight, netting three of those goals.
Catanzarite joined Epifani, Foti, Cappelletti and Grace Dimkopoulos netting single goals. Since Cappelletti wasn’t in goal, Emma Silverstein took a starting turn in the net, but didn’t have to face a shot all night.
Far from all this, the up-and-down season of Christian Brothers Academy continued last Thursday with a 2-0 defeat to Cortland, where Logan Chase scored once for the Purple Tigers and assisted on Alaina Rasbuin’s goal, overcoming Catherine Burns’ seven saves. Cortland goalie Marissa Gilmore stopped all five shots she faced.
This followed last Monday’s 3-2 overtime win at Chittenango, where CBA (6-5-2) traded goals in each half before netting the game-winner in the first extra period. Amanda Winn scored twice, with Katy Stanard earning the other goal. Grace Hulslander, Tate Kohlbrenner and Jess Slack had one assist apiece.
