Greece Arcadia girls advance to Class A soccer final
CORTLAND - Junior Allie Borrelli scored off a pass in front from Kristen Powers with less than two minutes left in the fourth overtime, giving Greece Arcadia a 3-2 thrilling comeback win over Section II’s Burnt Hills in today’s Class A state soccer semifinals at SUNY Cortland.
It was Borrelli’s third goal this fall.
The Titans (15-7), who won the Class AA state crown in OT in 2007, face Long Island’s Rockville Centre South Side (Section VIII) at 1 p.m. tomorrow in Cortland for the title. South Side has won a state-record 14 championships, but had its four-year reign ended last year.
South Side beat Section I’s Eastchester, 1-0, today.
Burnt Hills took a 1-0 lead just 6½ minutes into the match after a rare mistake by goalkeeper Jessica Sexton, who mishandled Jillian Beatty’s cross. The ball slipped through Sexton’s hands and off the hip of the senior.
Standing a few yards off the goal line, she dived to try to stop it from trickling in but couldn’t.
But Sexton, a third-year starter who has earned a scholarship from Long Island University, redeemed herself twice in the first half.
Just four minutes after falling behind, she scored on a diving, 10-yard header on Jori Semrau’s free kick to tie it. Coach Jeff Hibbard has rolled the dice the past two years by making the unorthodox move of bringing up Sexton, his goalie, on potentially dangerous free kicks or corner kicks. A good athlete who is 5-foot-11, Sexton had one goal already this season.
She made a late sprint up field to get into the play and that may have helped because Burnt Hills didn’t track her. Sexton ran unmarked through the middle of the penalty area. Semrau’s cross barely cleared goalie Emily McNutt’s hands and Sexton was there.
A few minutes after that, Maria Malone had an open look at Sexton from 12 yards but Sexton made a diving save to get her right hand on the shot.
Burnt Hills, located in Ballston Spa near Albany, went back on top 5 minutes, 12 seconds into the second half. This time, Sexton had no shot. Malone sent a low pass in front and Beatty beat a defender to it and one-timed a seven-yard shot in.
Arcadia answered again, tying it with 24:12 remaining on Kelly Shoniker’s goal. The junior scored from 12 yards inside the left post after a loose ball in the area squirted from a crowd to her. Shoniker also scored the winning goal with 6.3 seconds left in last weekend’s 1-0 quarterfinal victory.
She is the sister of former Arcadia basketball star Megan Shoniker, now a starting guard for the University of Rhode Island.
