Perhaps the Jamesville-DeWitt girls soccer team will motor on to a 10th consecutive Section III Class A title, and maybe a long-elusive state championship will follow.
But whether it does so or not, the memory of a 1-0, triple-overtime victory over Christian Brothers Academy will live long with the Red Rams.
And regardless of what would happen when East Syracuse Minoa challenged J-D in the sectional semifinals, at least it made it there in the wake of a sectional quarterfinal win over New Hartford in penalty kicks.
All of this took played out over a single Friday afternoon and evening, where at J-D it was quickly apparent that CBA, the no. 8 seed, had no intention of getting run over like so many other Red Rams foes this fall.
For 80 tense minutes of regulation, it stayed 0-0, with J-D constantly foiled by a courageous Brothers defense and stymied by goalie Abby Benware, who was amassing 10 saves.
Pushed into overtime for the first time this season, the Rams went through the mandatory 20 minutes while still getting shut out. So now it was on to a pair of five-minute periods where the first goal would win.
With penalty kicks looming, J-D finally could exhale as, in the third OT, Grace Dimkopoulos, when covered, passed it to Sydney Tanner, whose curving shot eluded Benware and found the net.
As this was going on, ESM, the no. 5 seed, was at no. 4 seed New Hartford, and for the two Spartan sides, regulation and four OT periods did not bring a resolution, nor did it produce any goals. New Hartford took more than twice as many shots, but Isabelle Chavoustie amassed 15 saves.
Thus, an entire season came down to penalty kicks. Each side made three of them, but after one more stop by Chavoustie, ESM’s Franchesca Polcaro stepped up and put it past New Hartford goalie Abby Buchholz to end it.
While J-D and ESM square off in one sectional semifinal Tuesday at Chittneango, the other pits no. 2 seed Cortland against no. 3 seed Whitesboro at CBA’s Alibrandi Stadium. The final is this weekend at SUNY-Cortland.
CBA had opened the playoffs by prevailing 4-1 over no. 9 seed Carthage in last Tuesday’s opening round, having jumped out to a 2-0 lead on the Comets by halftime.
Though Laura Albright put Carthage on the board in the second half, CBA got away as Kennedy Paciaga put in a pair of goals, with Katy Stanard adding one goal and one assist. Mari Saya had the other goal as assists went to Riley Taylor and Tatum Kohlbrenner.
In Class D, Manlius-Pebble Hill, as the no. 8 seed, had a chance, if it beat no. 9 seed McGraw in last Tuesday’s opening round, to challenge undefeated, state no. 1-ranked Poland in the quarterfinals.
The Trojans never got that chance, though, as it lost, 1-0, to the Eagles in an overtime thriller. Throughout the 80 minutes of regulation, both defenses stood out, though it was McGraw getting most of the chances.
It stayed scoreless through one of the two mandatory 10-minute OT periods, Hannah Warren working her total to 18 saves. Finally, with less than a minute left in the second OT, the Eagles earned a free kick – and Gracie McCall hit it past Warren into the net.
At least that game was close – which wasn’t the case for Bishop Grimes, who had a rough closing stretch to the regular season after it once sat at no. 2 in the state Class C rankings.
Pushed into the no. 11 seed in the Class C sectional bracket, the Cobras visited no. 6 seed Waterville and could do nothing to contain a potent Indians attack as it lost by a score of 9-1.
Katherine Murphy’s goal prevented a shutout, but otherwise it was a game where Waterville peppered Grimes for 33 shots, an average of one less than every three minutes.
Though Caroline Wilkinson did her best against this onslaught, Waterville had too much, especially Anna Beach, who had four goals and one assist as Julia Carter scored twice. Grimes finished its season 9-8 but should return most of its lineup for 2019.
