Eighty minutes of regulation were not enough. Nor were 20 minutes of regular overtime, nor 10 minutes of sudden-victory OT, nor a round of penalty kicks.
It took until the second round of penalty kicks on a wet Thursday night in Camillus for the Fayetteville-Manlius girls soccer team to edge past West Genesee and advance to a Section III Class AA semifinal against undefeated top seed Baldwinsville.
These sides had met twice in September, the Wildcats prevailing 6-2 at home, but the Hornets getting even with a 3-1 win two weeks later that was the season’s turning point for F-M, who was 1-7-1 going into that game, but lost only twice the rest of the regular season.
To start this third and most important encounter, F-M went in front when Ashley Carter, off a feed from Anna Hartzheim, scored in the first half to give the Hornets a 1-0 lead. Then WG tightened up on defense and, in the second half, pulled even when Olivia Price found the net, assisted by Emma Parry.
And then the long wait for a decisive goal began. Through the rest of regulation, plus OT, neither WG nor F-M was able to convert. So the long battle went to penalty kicks.
Each team got five shots, but that round didn’t settle anything so it went to another round where, finally, the Hornets triumphed, and would now get a chance to turn around a pair of lopsided defeats to Baldwinsville to set up a sectional final against Liverpool or Rome Free Academy.
High drama, and high emotions, marked the first week of the Section III Class D girls and boys soccer playoffs, where Manlius-Pebble Hill and Bishop Grimes each took part, and each had quite a story to tell.
Given the no. 4 seed in the girls Class D bracket, MPH almost didn’t make it out of last Tuesday’s round, requiring a late goal from Lisa Morocco to survive the challenge of no. 13 seed Stockbridge Valley and beat the Cougars 2-1.
They traded first-half goals, Rachel Comfort scoring for the Trojans off a feed from Maja Connovo and Jill Jacobs netting an unassisted goal for Stockbridge. Thanks to eight saves from goalie Olivia Marshall, the Cougars kept it 1-1 deep into the second half.
Staring at overtime, the Trojans maintained its pressure and with less than three minutes left, Morocco took a pass and, keeping calm and steady, worked around two Stockbridge defenders before beating Marshall for the game-winner.
MPH now faced a quarterfinal Friday against no. 5 seed Cincinnatus, who in contrast to the Trojans’ drama routed Remsen 6-2 in its opening-round game. Perhaps that lack of stress favored the Lions, who proceeded to end the Trojans’ season by a 3-0 margin.
Ignoring the rain and the wet conditions, Cincinnatus got on the board in the first half, and despite MPH’s efforts to erase its 1-0 deficit at intermission, the Lions got away as Kyleigh Eaton, Delaney Ruton and Remington Blaisdell earned the goals, overcoming Sarah Smith’s six saves. The Trojans finished its season with a record of 10-5.
As the no. 14 seed in girls Class D, Bishop Grimes hoped for a long run, especially since it s long-time head coach, Paul Hensley, was retiring at season’s end.
But even that motivation was not enough to send the Cobras forward as it fell, 4-1, to no. 3 seed LaFargeville in last Tuesday’s opening round. The Red Knights grabbed a 2-0 lead by halftime and pulled further away despite Julia Knade’s second-half goal, assisted by Abby Tweedale.
Busy as she was for most of this 4-13 season, Grimes goalie Marissa Curtis made 12 saves. LaFargeville featured, on its attack, Kamryn Barnes, who had a goal and two assists, and Abigail Dwyer, who scored twice.
