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.
“It means everything,” said senior defender Allie Coombs, who anchored a defense that did not surrender a goal in eight post-season games. “This moment is really fulfilling.”
Lexie Fragnito, who had a three-goal hat trick in the state final, called her team’s accomplishment “unreal”, and partly it had to do with just how dominant the Mustangs were right from the outset against the Seahawks.
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.