CORTLAND – Having accomplished everything possible over the course of three years except a Section III championship, the East Syracuse Minoa girls soccer team was bent on finally reaching the top.
On a warm Friday evening at SUNY-Cortland, the Spartans almost got there, but in the waning moments of overtime West Genesee produced a stunning goal to prevail 2-1 and take the sectional Class AA title.
Both in 2021 and 2022, it was New Hartford who got in ESM’s way in sectional title games. Here, the Spartans got within inches of the crown, only to get painfully denied.
Deep into the second of two 15-minute OT periods, ESM and WG were locked into a 1-1 tie. Then, with five minutes left, Leah Rehm, despite strong defense, ripped a shot from the right side that eluded Wildcats goalie Julia Poissant, but hit the crossbar.
Had it stayed 1-1, the two sides would be declared co-champions and go to penalty kicks to determine the state tournament representative. But WG put on a last-minute attack and, with 16 seconds to play, Maria Snyder headed it from the right to Nelson, who put it into the right side of the net.
From the outset, ESM controlled most of the flow of play, forcing West Genesee to play a defensive style similar to the one used to play the Spartans to a 0-0 draw in the season opener two months earlier.
Soon, though, the Wildcats did settle in, attacked more – and in the 17th minute, it paid off when a pass from the left sprung Nelson up the middle and, working around the last defender, put a shot past ESM goalie Julianna Orcutt.
For the rest of the half, the Spartans had scattered opportunities that it could not convert. But Leah Rehm helped ESM break through less than six minutes into the second half, taking a pass from Bailey Rehm and putting a long shot past Julia Poissant to tie it, 1-1.
For much of the rest of regulation, the Spartans were parked in WG’s end, constantly threatening yet effectively turned back. When a last-minute Wildcats charge got contained, the game went into overtime.
Neither team got a close-up scoring chance in the first 15-minute extra period, despite some free kicks. Both sides had closer free-kick chances in the second OT that weren’t converted before the stunning late sequence where Rehm got so close to a game-winner – but Nelson actually accomplished it.
While this was going on, CBA was attempting to complete its unlikely run to a sectional title against a Marcellus side it beat 2-0 barely two weeks earlier – but on this night, it could not contain Powell in the early stages.
Having already scored 27 times this season, Powell broke through the Brothers’ defenders on a solo run that led to a goal just 8:11 into the game. Then Powell converted in a similar manner eight minutes later, doubling the Mustangs’ margin.
From that point forward, CBA found itself in a futile chase, rarely able to establish its own attack against a strong, steady group of Marcellus defenders, even as its own back line settled down and blanked the Mustangs the rest of the way.
