By TONY BELLISSIMO
The Lady Cyclones capped a perfect season last Saturday in Cortland, beating Pittsford Mendon (Section V), 4-2, in the state title game at Homer High School. Senior Alaina Beyar scored three times and assisted on senior Megan Votke's game-opening goal to lead South Side, which finished the season 21-0.
"We took nothing for granted and worked really hard," Beyar said. "It's an amazing feeling. We're overjoyed."
South Side's 28th consecutive playoff victory didn't come easy, despite the fact that it led 2-0 at the half. Pittsford Mendon's Danielle D'Ottavio scored three minutes into the second half, putting an end to the Lady Cyclones' 14-game playoff shutout streak that dated back to the 2005 state final. "I thought the girls reacted well after we gave up that first goal," coach Judi Croutier said. "It helped that we had a little cushion when it happened."
D'Ottavio would strike again later, answering Beyar's second goal to make it 3-2 with 25 minutes remaining. But Beyar wasn't finished. After her younger sister, sophomore Carly, was taken down hard in the box by a defender, the Boston College-bound forward drilled a penalty kick past Vikings goalkeeper Jess Dulski with 14:28 left to give South Side breathing room.
"Once the playoffs started, we practiced penalty kicks every day," said Alaina, who had a team-high 21 goals for the season and was voted MVP of the state Final Four. "I'm comfortable taking them, and it was a relief to score because it was a critical time in the game."
South Side senior goalkeeper Sasha Reiber, who on Friday posted her ninth straight shutout, 2-0 over Burnt Hills in the semifinals, made five saves against Pittsford Mendon. "Sasha gave up only six goals all season," Croutier said. "Once the final horn sounded, everyone ran to her to celebrate."
The goals scored by D'Ottavio were the first allowed by the Lady Cyclones since Oct. 14. "They had a solid team," Croutier said of Pittsford Mendon. "They gave up only 11 goals coming into the game, so we knew we had to play well for 80 minutes."
The South Side-Burnt Hills semifinal at Tompkins Cortland-Community College was a rematch of last year's final. Friday's game was delayed an hour while the field was cleared of three inches of snow. "The weather was quite interesting," Croutier said. "We were prepared for the cold and wind, and there's always a chance of snow at this time of the year."
The snow wasn't falling when South Side sophomore Crystal Dunn converted a crossing pass from Alaina Beyar 4:12 into the game to set the tone. It was her 12th goal of the season. "They tried to deny Crystal the ball, but they couldn't do it," Croutier said. "She's such an aggressive player and not only a major part of the offense, but strong defensively as well."
Senior Mary Kate Krol made it 2-0 at the 26-minute mark, and that was more than enough, because Burnt Hills didn't manage a shot against Reiber until four minutes had elapsed in the second half. South Side's defense, led by seniors Katie Starsia, Katie Norwood and Molly Bralower, as well as sophomore Jackie Nicholas, was airtight once again.
Reiber, Starsia and senior Kim Johnson played on all four state championship teams. The 2007 squad is the only one to go undefeated. "It hit me on the ride home that we didn't lose a game," Croutier said. "It's incredible."
Comments about this story? TBellissimo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 204.
