By Zack Richner
In advancing to the championship game the next day against Burnt Hills, the Cyclones battled through the merciless snow and frigid cold for a 3-0 victory, as sophomores Jackie Fosso and Melissa Gimpel and junior co-captain Jenna Lucchesi each scored a goal.
The thrill of victory, however, was short-lived.
Although the sun shone bright in the Rochester sky on Saturday, it neglected to shine on the Cyclones. Eight minutes and 33 seconds into the championship game, Burnt Hills' Jillian Carracciolo scored the first and only goal of the game.
For the first time since the 1988 and 1989 seasons, the Cyclones will go without a title in consecutive years. This was Burnt Hills' first state title; ironically, it lost to South Side in the 1990 and 1994 finals.
Cyclones senior goalkeeper and co-captain Christine Conway played yet another impressive game in net, with eight saves on the day. The one goal she allowed was Carracciolo's innocent shot. The ground, uneven from the melted snow, created a bounce that no one could have predicted. Conway dove for the ball, but it skipped off her fingers and into the net. Her teammates all shared the same thought: It was a freak goal.
But South Side continued to play hard. Junior co-captain Liz Molloy said that the goal was a wake-up call for South Side. It let us know we didn't have the game in the bag, Molloy said. They weren't going to just roll over.
Lucchesi said that going into the game, We had a lot of confidence, but we weren't overconfident. We prepared the best we could.
After the goal, Molloy said, a change of momentum was needed. Burnt Hills, only half as far from Rochester as Rockville Centre, had a lot of fans at the game. We really needed to quiet them down by scoring a goal, she said.
The Cyclones took 10 shots on goal, all to no avail.
Most of the girls will get another chance next year to win the championship that once seemed a near certainty for South Side, yet now appears elusive. All of South Side's starters except for Conway are returning next year, and the team has good depth at her position, which was displayed earlier this season when Conway was sidelined with a broken leg. Freshman Jessica Walsh and junior Saara Untracht-Oakner will be looking to step up and fill the void Conway will leave next year.
Since the title game was Conway's last, the state championship took on a special meaning for the team. We wanted to give her the win, said Molloy. She worked so hard to come back. We wanted her career to end with a championship.
As hard as they tried, the Cyclones could not score that one goal. Which makes them all the more determined to bring home the championship next year. With almost every starter having one more year of experience under her shin guards, it seems a realistic goal. We're already ready, Lucchesi said.
