Gathering for what’s turned into an annual rite of holding up the Section III Class A championship banner, the Jamesville-DeWitt girls soccer team held up index fingers, like so many others do when a title is accomplished.
The difference was that both right and left hands were used as those fingers pointed skyward and the players smiled for family and friends, having achieved something rare in area high school sports annals.
When the Red Rams put away Central Square 3-0 Friday night at SUNY-Cortland, it marked J-D’s 11th consecutive sectional title, and this one carried plenty of its own satisfaction, even to players who have experienced it many times before.
“We really wanted to continue this (winning) tradition and played as hard as we could, with high intensity and high standards,” said senior defender Ava Brazie.
One slight difference from so many of J-D’s title runs was that this seemed far from foreordained when the sectional playoffs got underway. The Rams held the no. 2 seed, partially a consequence of dropping a 3-2 overtime decision to Central Square late in September.
“It (that loss to Central Square) did give us an extra push,” said senior midfielder Grace Dimkopoulos.
Once J-D had survived a tense 1-0 semifinal with no. 3 seed New Hartford Tuesday night at Chittenango High School, it focused all of its energy on getting payback against the Redhawks, who carried a 15-match unbeaten streak into the title game.
Pressuring from the outset, the Rams only needed 4:09 before taking the lead for good. A corner kick from Tonia Kousmanidis bounced out to senior Denise Yaeger, who curled a left-footed shot into the top right corner of the net.
All through the first half, J-D ably possessed the ball, and its regular attacks led to a series of set pieces, from numerous corner kicks to the occasional free kick. Only some fine stops from Central Square goalie Samantha Haley kept it close.
But in the 37th minute, another Rams corner kick created confusion in front of the Redhawks’ net, and freshman Megan Baker converted, doubling the margin to 2-0, where it stood at halftime.
Once again, J-D’s defense, led by Brazie, Yaeger, Grace Bridge and Alice O’Connor, ably protected its end of the field, which led to more possession time as the game wore on.
It was two seniors, Brazie and Dimkopoulos, teaming up for the final goal early in the second half. Again it was a set piece, though this time it was a beautiful free kick from Brazie on the left side that Dimkopoulos headed home.
In this long and remarkable championship run that’s included 33 straight sectional games without a defeat, this may have been the most difficult path J-D had taken to the top, at least at the end.
For before it faced Central Square, the Rams first had to get past New Hartford, and it proved quite tense.
New Hartford brought a 13-3-1 record into the game that included wins over the likes of Class AA powerhouse Baldwinsville, and it played with confidence against J-D, too.
This, more than any other game this season, proved a tribute to J-D’s defense, which had a lead to protect when Megan Baker scored in the 25th minute to put the Rams out in front.
Like it would against Central Square, the back line of Brazie, Bridge, Yaeger and O’Connor had to withstand a series of New Hartford pushes as the Spartans controlled possession for most of the night, especially in the second half.
As the Rams rarely had opportunities of its own following Baker’s goal, New Hartford continually put pressure on J-D goalkeeper Katie Cappelletti, but the senior stepped up in a big way, stopping all 13 Spartans shots she faced.
Then Central Square got beat, and J-D is back, again, to the state Class A tournament. In this Saturday’s regional final at Mechanicville, J-D meets the Section II/X champion, again going after the state championship that the Rams have long sought.
“This is the year we pull it off,” said Brazie.
