Here, at last, was the Jamesville-DeWitt girls soccer team’s opportunity to clear all the hurdles and lay claim to a first-ever state Class A championship.
But just like in 2012 and 2015, the Red Rams got stopped one victory short of the big prize, denied by Section V champion Spencerport in a 2-1 decision Sunday afternoon in a tense, thrilling state title game at SUNY-Cortland.
Though J-D grabbed the early edge, it soon gave it back to the Rangers, who used its skill to get in front and a tenacious defense to withstand a wave of chances by the Rams as time wound down.
A great game was anticipated. J-D was atop the state rankings, but Spencerport was coming off a 6-0 rout over Pearl River in its state semifinal the day before and was expected to test the Rams’ defense in a way few others had all season.
The one advantage J-D possessed was having gone through the pressure of a state final before, in 2015. And even if that result (a loss to Islip) wasn’t satisfactory, the memory of it, and the lessons gained from it, could prove valuable.
Flying out of the gate, the Rams forced set pieces, and converted on one of them 8:51 into the game when Lainey Foti placed herself at the point and, taking Alex Epifani’s corner kick, headed it past Rangers goalie Lauren Oplanden. It was the first goal Spencerport had allowed in any game since early October.
A minute later, Alex Catanzarite nearly made it 2-0, ripping a hard shot off the left post, and Angela Bussone got another close-up shot that trickled just wide.
Ultimately, J-D paid for not building a bigger margin as, in the 17th minute, the Rangers tied it, 1-1, when Leah Wengender, from the left wing, passed to a streaking Erin Coykendall streaking up the middle, and Coykendall converted.
Just a sophomore, Coykendall wasn’t done causing damage to J-D. In the 30th minute, she was at the point when Aleah Martone crossed from the left corner and Coykendall sent a screaming header just inside the left post, putting Spencerport in front.
Now trailing, the Rams attacked hard late in the half, with Sophia Dimkopouolos and Tonia Kousmanidis both denied in close-up chances by the Spencerport defense to keep it 2-1 going into the break.
So again J-D found itself needing a goal to give itself a chance to win it all, and 40 minutes to attain it, and would make a fair share of runs early in the second half, only to get turned back again.
Gradually, the fast pace went away, but the Rams kept pressuring and probing. Catanzarite and Dimkopoulos both were inches away on close-up looks near the middle part of the half, and Kousmanidis saw an open shot drift over the net with 15:20 left.
The wealth of missed opportunities continued as Catanzarite’s hard shot was stopped by Oplanden with nine minutes left. As time wound down J-D kept pressing, and kept getting turned back, its long-held state championship dreams deferred for another year.
All of this followed Saturday’s state Class A semifinal at Tompkins County Community College, where J-D met Long Island champion Garden City and broke out in front early on the way to a 2-0 victory over the Trojans.
Not even two minutes had passed when Catanzarite scored to put the Rams in front. For the rest of the first half, J-D could not add to that 1-0 margin, and would have to withstand plenty of pressure from Garden City.
But the Red Rams’ defenders, including Hayley Quackenbush, Grace Bridge, Aryssa Lux and Elena Haarer, turned back the Trojans, and when that didn’t work, freshman goalie Katie Cappelletti made the stops, eventually accumulating 11 saves.
Still, the game remained 1-0 until Sophia Dimkopoulos broke free and, in the 63rd minute, put in the insurance goal that helped seal J-D’s third trip to the state final in five years.
Only the last part didn’t work out, again, and J-D would now have to see long-time stalwarts like Catanzarite, Epifani, Haarer, Sophia Dimkopoulos and Angela Bussone depart, having accomplished everything except winning that last game of the season.
A strong returning cast in 2017, led by Foti, Cappelletti, Quackenbush, Bridge, Lux, Kousmanidis, Grace Dimkopoulos and Ali Durkin, will try to maintain a streak of eight consecutive Section III titles and, once more, seek the bigger prize that has remained just out of the Red Rams’ reach.
