CENTRAL NEW YORK – All the wins, all the big numbers and gaudy statistics – the East Syracuse Minoa girls soccer team liked them and appreciated them, but something else meant far more.
What had eluded the Spartans for so long finally was grabbed Saturday night at SUNY-Cortland when, with a goal late in the second half from all-time leading scorer Leah Rehm, it beat West Genesee 1-0 to earn the Section III Class AA championship.
The 73-8-3 record built up since the COVID-19-influenced 2020-21 season was tempered by three consecutive defeats in the sectional finals – two to New Hartford, another to the same Wildcats it would face now.
And everyone understood the ramifications. Miss on this opportunity with this extraordinary team and no one could guarantee that such a chance would arise again in the future.
West Genesee carried with it a 15-2 record and the SCAC Metro division regular-season championship, returning plenty of experienced players from the side that knocked off ESM in overtime 12 months ago.
It also had quite an effective defensive game plan that, for much of the evening, would keep the game 0-0.
Rehm was tailed most of the way by the Wildcats’ Sofia Barba, whose strong play allowed other WG defenders to make sure the rest of the ESM front line didn’t get open, either.
As the second half dragged on and it remained scoreless, the thought of another OT drama had to cross the mind of ESM players and fans alike – until it happened.
With 11 minutes left in regulation, a rare Wildcats turnover sent the Spartans on a breakaway. Sophia Brooks made the timely pass and found Rehm, who fired a shot past WG goalie Julia Poissant into the net.
Hanging on from there, ESM ran its current unbeaten streak to 19 proving, among other things, that it could win a tense and low-scoring affair after netting 16 goals in its two previous sectional games.
What Rehm did in last Wednesday’s 7-0 romp over Fulton in the sectional semifinal at Nottingham was on another level, though. Impossible to contain, Rehm unleashed a first-half barrage that did not let up until ESM had a 6-0 advantage on the Red Dragons.
Scoring five times, Rehm also got assists when Leah Chavoustie and Sophia Brooks converted. Chavoustie twice assisted on Leah Rehm’s goals as Bailey Rehm, Callie Sweeney and Ayzlei Winans had one assist apiece.
Yet for all the 55 goals she accumulated this season prior to the sectional final, it was Leah Rehm’s 56th goal that, at long last, brought ESM to the championship summit.
Now it was time to go after a state Class AA title, with a big hurdle looming this Saturday when the Spartans face Section II champion in the regional final, the winner to advance to the Nov. 16-17 state final four right back in the Cortland area where a long-held ESM dream was already fulfilled.
