CORTLAND – Having waited two long decades to land the program’s fourth state championship, the Marcellus girls soccer team was in no mood to wait any longer.
In a stunning start to Sunday’s state Class B final at SUNY-Cortland the Mustangs, justifying its own expectations and the pressure of holding the top spot in the state rankings all season, scored twice in the game’s first six minutes and rolled from there to a 4-0 victory over Long Island’s Cold Spring Harbor.
Typically a game of this stature involves cautious play, but Marcellus cared little for this and offered a decisive blow to the Seahawks on its first two attacks courtesy of its primary scoring duo, Cece Powell and Lexie Fragnito.
Just 3:47 into the game, Corrine Aldrich’s cross from the left side was mishandled by CSH goalkeeper Charlotte Madigan, and Powell was standing right there, quickly banging the ball into the net.
Less than two minutes later the vaunted Marcellus fast break made it 2-0. Sprung by a perfect pass from Sophia Pilon, Lexie Fragnito took it at full speed, dribbled around a defender and hit a hard shot home.
These twin blows – Powell’s 29th goal and Fragnito’s 40th goal – allowed Marcellus to play close to any way it wanted for the next 70-plus minutes, and it didn’t hurt to get a friendly bounce.
In the 27th minute a CSH free kick was hit by a Marcellus hand inside the 18-yard box. Given a penalty kick, the Seahawks turned to Jaida Luparello, whose hard shot to the middle bounced off the crossbar – and right into the hands of goalkeeper Tenly Baker, who caught it and held on.
Helped in no small part by the likes of Pilon, Allie Coombs, Drew Johnson and Jadyn Baker, the Mustangs would record an eighth consecutive playoff shutout, managing to go through nearly 700 minutes of soccer without surrendering a goal.
This included two instances of Tenly Baker venturing well out of the net to get the ball during Seahawaks attacks early in the second half, either of which could have switched momentum. Not once did CSH attempt a corner kick.
Fragnito returned to apply the decisive blows. With 19:04 left off a Seahawks turnover Fragnito, from at least 30 yards out, crushed a perfect shot into the top center of the net which Madigan had no chance to stop.
Then Fragnito did it again from the left side on a 35-yard blast seven minutes later, completing a state title game hat trick and allowing the Mustangs to fully savor the end to its 20-year quest, getting its entire roster on the field before the game was over.
Before all this, Marcellus first had to get through last Saturday night’s state semifinal at Cortland High School where it took on Section I’s Bronxville, who had a much more recent state title in 2021 upon which it could draw inspiration.
But any history, recent or otherwise, could not stop the Mustangs from putting away the Broncos 3-0, getting a first-half goal from Powell to move out in front.
Bronxville did apply plenty of pressure throughout the game, but the Mustangs’ defense again turned them back as Tenly Baker turned back all 13 shots she faced.
Aldrich and Johnson provided the cushion with second-half goals, Aldrich also earning an assist to secure the Mustangs’ trip to the state final where CSH awaited after a 1-0 semifinal win over Hornell.
Enduring its own 1-0 overtime dramas in both the sectional final win over CBA and the regional final victory over Mechanicville created enough stress that Marcellus was desperate not to repeat in the title game – and it did not.
So a season that began with head coach Laurie Updike getting inducted into the New York State High School Girls Soccer Hall of Fame ended with another milestone far more important to her, the players and all the fans of Marcellus soccer.
What’s more, the Mustangs have a really good chance to do this again in 2025, with Powell, Fragnito and Tenly Baker leading a large returning cast, though some strong seniors depart, including Aldrich, Coombs, Johnson, Jadyn Baker and Grace Vitale.
