CENTRAL NEW YORK – Over the last couple of decades the Marcellus girls soccer team has grown quite used to making trips in November south to SUNY-Cortland with some kind of championship on the line.
Yet another trip took place Friday night as the undefeated, state no. 1-ranked Mustangs sought to repeat as Section III Class B champions at the expense of Christian Brothers Academy.
Marcellus did so – but it took overtime, a hard shot just off target by Marielle Kennedy and a rebound put home by Lexie Fragnito 6:27 into the extra period to give the Mustangs a 1-0 victory and another sectional title.
Frustrated and bottled up through 80 minutes of regulation, Marcellus maintained its patience and took heed of coach Laurie Updike’s message before the first OT period.
“I told them that it was going to take heart and guts and that we had to go find those two things,” said Updike.
It would also require just the right kind of hustle from Fragnito, the team’s leading goal-scorer this season, who had mostly struggled to find space to shoot against frequent double teams.
As the decisive sequence unfolded, Kennedy, situated about 25 yards right from the net, used her right foot to drill a shot that eluded CBA goalkeeper Cara Macaluso and banged off the crossbar.
“I thought it was going in,” said Fragnito.
When it did not, the ball bounced right in front to Fragnito who, finally getting some space, poked the shot past Macaluso into the net for the game-winner.
While Mustangs fans hoped for a contest similar to the 3-0 win it got over CBA two weeks earlier, the Brothers would not cooperate.
Aggressive in the opening minutes, Marcellus forced Macaluso to make multiple stops. After that early surge, the Brothers mostly took away the space, and it threw the Mustangs off rhythm.
“They frustrated us the whole first half,” said Updike. “But our pressure ultimately made the difference”
It went to the second half still 0-0, Marcellus quite aware that the pressure would grow, and it got a bit of good fortune midway through the half when CBA’s Isabel Araujo crashed a shot off the crossbar.
The best Marcellus chance late in regulation came when Cece Powell broke through the defensive wall with 1:40 to play only to get turned back by Macaluso well in front of her net, leading to the OT – and at last, a breakthrough.
“It’s awesome to win it, but it’s also a big relief,” said Fragnito.
Before all this, Fragnito and Powell were in top form. Both had produced plenty in the opening rounds of the sectional playoffs as Marcellus amassed 26 goals in romps of Sherburne-Earlville and General Brown.
Holland Patent was next in last Tuesday’s sectional semifinal at Jordan-Elbridge, and while the no. 4 seed Golden Knights were a bit stingier, it could not contain the Mustangs’ tremendous scoring tandem who produced a 5-0 victory.
On the way to a 4-0 halftime advantage Fragnito and Powell both found their way around HP’s defenses multiple times leading to a string of goals.
Fragnito’s three-goal hat trick gave her eight for the playoffs and 34 for the season. Powell tacked on two more goals to run her season total to 26 with Kennedy, Drew Johnson, Allie Kaup and Sophia Pilon all getting assists.
Contrasting this was CBA’s tough 2-1 semifinal win over Lowville, a tough battle that served the Brothers well for the title game that followed – but would still go in Marcellus’ favor.
On Tuesday night Marcellus returned to the state Class B tournament, where it played the Section X champions at South Jefferson with the winner to advance to the Nov. 9 regional final.
