Once more, the Jamesville-DeWitt girls soccer team’s quest for a first-ever state championship made it to the last weekend of the season, but not all the way to the top.
The Red Rams, in the state final four for the fourth time this decade, were stopped in this instance by Section I champion Pearl River, whose goal late in regulation gave J-D a 1-0 defeat in Saturday’s state Class A semifinal at Cortland High School.
Pearl River resembled J-D in many ways, from its record (18-1-2) to its young roster (just three senior starters) to the fact that it shut out most of its opponents – 15 in total – en route to the state final four.
So it was not surprising that the first half amounted to a 0-0 deadlock. The Pirates, with plenty of team speed on hand, didn’t let the Rams get much space to operate, nor could J-D gain many set pieces, held to one corner kick.
However, the Rams’ defense, led again by Aryssa Lux, Ava Brazie and Hayley Quackenbush, placed itself well on the back line in front of Katie Cappelletti, and when that didn’t work, someone else would make a play, as Grace Bridge did sending the ball off the goal line in the 28th minute when Cappelletti was caught out of position.
Cappelletti more than made up for that possible error early in the second half, diving to stop Sarah Donovan’s header near the left post that nearly gave Pearl River the lead.
All through the first 20 minutes of the half, J-D rarely got the ball out of its own end, and even when it started to do so in the latter stages, it could not dent the Pirates’ own defenses.
Yet just when it looked like the two sides were headed for overtime, Pearl River got its breakthrough.
With 2:27 to play, Donovan was sprung up the middle by a well-timed pass from the right side by Julia Pozzuto. Despite a defensive marker, Donovan sprinted to the ball and, when Cappelletti ran from the crease to meet her, Donovan slipped a touch shot past her into the net.
Still, it wasn’t over. Amid a wild scramble in the final minute, Lainey Foti, one of the few J-D seniors, sent a close-up shot inches wide left, and the Rams’ chance to advance to a rematch of the 2016 state final against Spencerport (who beat North Shore 3-1 in the other semifinal) slipped away.
What small comfort J-D could take from this latest near-miss was that, aside from Lainey Foti, most of its other key personnel, including Cappelletti, Lux, Brazie, Quackenbush, Grace Dimkopoulos, Grace Bridge, Sydney Baker, Tonia Kousmanidis and Grace Thomas, get to try again in 2018 as the Rams go after a 10th straight Section III title and something far more, too.