In their own way, the athletes at Jamesville-DeWitt and Christian Brothers Academy squaring off in Friday night’s Section III Class A championship game ample experience playing for high stakes on the turf at SUNY-Cortland.
By winning eight consecutive sectional titles and twice reaching the state Class A final, the Red Rams have taken annual trips to this turf. So, too, had many of CBA’s players, though it was in the spring when state girls lacrosse championships were on the line.
Now they meet for a title in girls soccer, having got there by means of a pair of tense sectional semifinals Tuesday night.
At Chittenango, J-D needed patience and poise to outlast no. 4 seed New Hartford 1-0, while at Fayetteville-Manlius CBA toppled no. 2 seed Fulton by that same 1-0 margin in overtime.
Fulton had done plenty of good this season, including a late-September win over J-D. But CBA, tested in so many close games throughout the fall, got into another one, keeping things scoreless through 80 minutes of regulation.
Then, in the first of two mandatory 10-minute OT periods, Grace Hulsander, a senior leader throughout the season, broke open and put home the game’s first goal. Then CBA’s defense made sure that lead stuck, containing Fulton just like they had done throughout the night.
A few miles down the road at Chittenango, J-D’s task against New Hartford took on a similar theme, at least through most of the game. A Rams defense that had earned 12 shutouts during the season limited most of the Spartans’ runs.
Yet New Hartford was just as stingy, nearly sending the game into overtime. But with 5:47 left, Lainey Foti found space and slapped a shot past Spartans goalie Abby Buchholz that sent J-D to another sectional final.
