While the question of whether the Fayetteville-Manlius girls soccer team lays claim to its first-ever state championship is still open, there’s no question that what transpired Saturday will live long in each of the players’ memories – especially Lauren Clark.
The sophomore forward was the central figure in the Hornets’ epochal 4-3, triple-overtime victory over Bethlehem in Saturday’s Class AA regional final at Mechanicville High School, putting her team out in front and then rallying it just when its season appeared over.
This was a rematch of the 3-1 victory by the Section II champion Eagles over F-M in this same round in 2018. Trying to turn its fortunes around, the Hornets chose to travel on Friday and stay at a hotel so it didn’t have to spend long hours on a bus Saturday before the game.
Then, at Mechanicville, F-M had to wait and watch its neighbors from Jamesville-DeWitt go through four overtimes and penalty kicks before outlasting Mohonasen in the Class A regional final before it finally took the field.
Perhaps showing just how eager it was to get back at Bethlehem, the Hornets needed less than nine minutes to go out in front, Clark finding the net from close range on one of F-M’s first good chances.
For a long while, it stayed 1-0, the Hornets’ defense, led again by Haley Ingram, Laura Bonomo, Ryann Dauksza and Alora Miller, forced into extra duty as Bethlehem’s attack picked up, especially in the early portion of the second half.
Just as it looked like the Eagles would pull even, the Hornets counterattacked and, with 16:41 left , Clark emerged from a scramble in front of the net to put home her second half.
Yet even that 2-0 lead was not safe because, with 11:17 to play, eighth-grader Clare Hutton converted, finally putting Bethlehem on the board. Energized by that breakthrough, the Eagles’ pressure picked up further.
When Claire Sellers streaked up the right side and put it past Sydney Mahr with 4:06 left in regulation, F-M’s two-goal margin was gone and now it faced the prospect of 20 mandatory minutes of overtime.
Still in a defensive mode, the Hornets nearly made it out of the first 10-minute extra period tied, but with 1.6 seconds on the clock another Bethlehem eighth-grader, Anna Nichols, took a pass from Hutton and converted.
Fortunately, another 10 minutes remained to do something about the 3-2 deficit, and now it was F-M desperate and pushing. With three minutes left in its season, the Hornets were rescued when, again, Clark flashed open and, again, she found the net for the hat trick.
Now it stretched to a third OT, five minutes long, where the first goal, if scored, would win. It only took 41 seconds for a long pass to spring Clark down the right side, and she put home the most important goal of her high-school career.
It brings F-M to the state semifinals next Saturday at SUNY-Cortland, where at 3 p.m. it faces Long Island champion Massapequa. The winner gets Clarence (Section VI) or Monroe-Woodbury (Section IX) in Sunday’s state final at 12:30.
