CENTRAL NEW YORK – All that the East Syracuse Minoa girls soccer team has lacked from its remarkable run of the last four seasons is a Section III championship banner.
Yet even if the Spartans don’t get that banner, it achieved something almost as satisfying Tuesday night at Nottingham High School when it defeated Fayetteville-Manlius 2-0 in the sectional Class AA semifinals.
Dating back to 2018, the Hornets had won four consecutive sectional AA titles, and it had pushed ESM hard in the regular season, F-M losing 3-2 on a goal late in regulation Sept. 30 but then blanking the Spartans 2-0 when they last met Oct. 10.
Just two weeks later, a large, loud crowd at Nottingham watched as ESM asserted itself on both ends in the first half, whether it was constant attacks or having a defense that never let the Hornets’ leading scorer, Morgan Goodman, get any room to operate.
And though F-M wanted to do the same with Leah Rehm, often double-teaming her, they left Rehm in single coverage in the 29th minute and the star junior, off a feed from Ayzlei Winans, drilled
a left-footed shot into the top right corner of the net that Mackenzie Murphy had no chance to stop.
As they went to the second half, the Hornets gradually gained more chances of its own, yet again were turned back, held overall to just four shots by an effective Spartans back line.
Still, ESM wasn’t able to exhale until, with 7:22 left, a memorable free kick clinched it. From more than 40 yards out, Alina Krdzic drilled a hard, low shot that Murpay could only watch find the top-left corner.
As ESM advanced to face West Genesee in Friday’s sectional Class A final at SUNY-Cortland, Christian Brothers Academy earned a berth in the Class B title game by upending top seed Lowville 2-1 in their semifinal at South Jefferson.
CBA already had playoff wins over Adirondack (6-0) and Phoenix (3-0) before it made its way north to face Lowville, whose 14-2 regular-season mark only had narrow 2-1 defeats to Cicero-North Syracuse and Watertown.
Any idea that the Brothers were intimidated by Lowville slowly dissipated during a scoreless first half and vanished in the 51st minute. A foul led to a free kick that sophomore Katherine Williamson sent into the net.
Fighting back, Lowville tied it, 1-1, on its own free kick with 12 minutes to go in regulation, and perhaps at this point the top seed believed that its older roster would prove more poised in crunch time.
Again, though, the Brothers defied the odds, working its way toward a late corner kick. With 1:30 left, Emma Hill sent ito the middle and eighth-grader Carleigh Morgia poked home the game-winner.
Now CBA hopes, in the sectional final, that the energy no. 2 seed Marcellus spent fighting past archrival Skaneateles in overtime in the other semifinal (also a 2-1 decision), plus its own good feelings about beating 2-0 a couple of weeks earlier, would make the difference with a title on the line.
Once accustomed to winning sectional titles, Jamesville-DeWitt saw its Class A championship dreams denied by top seed and defending champion New Hartford in yet another 2-1 semifinal.
Trailing 1-0 at halftime, the Red Rams got on the board late, only to see the Spartans (who have gone unbeaten in 66 of its last 67 games) answer it and hang on, ending J-D’s season with a record of 6-11. Liz Rayhill and Sophia Vitullo had New Hartford’s goals.
