Top-seeded Cicero-North Syracuse trailed second-seeded Rome Free Academy 2-0 with just over nine minutes left in the third quarter of Sunday's Class A field hockey sectional final.
The Northstars rattled off three-straight goals and came from behind to beat the Black Knights 3-2 at Vernon-Verona-Sherill High School.
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"This is a classic example of never say quit," C-NS head coach Pat Kennedy said. "RFA had a good game plan." After a scoreless first quarter, RFA's Alexa Thompson got her team on the board first with a goal off an assist from Isabel McMahon with 13:56 left in the second.
"It was tough. We weren't playing our best in the first quarter, but I knew we could come back," C-NS senior forward Chrissy Wagner said. "If you just never give up, the results will pay off eventually. I knew we could do it."
RFA led 1-0 at intermission.
"We knew coming in and we told them all week, RFA by far, is the most athletically gifted team that we've seen all year," said Kennedy, whose Northstars blanked RFA 5-0 on Sept. 2. "They're fast. They've got tremendous endurance and ball skills. I think they're the best opponent we've seen all year."
On Sunday, RFA added to its lead with a Drew Kopek goal with 9:07 left in the third quarter. Fiona McMahon provided the assist on that goal for the Black Knights.
"They were neutralizing us, but towards the end of the second quarter we started getting back to our game plan," Kennedy said. "The last couple minutes of the first half things started turning a little bit. Then in that second half, we exploited their weaknesses and we got back to our game plan."
C-NS scored its first goal of the game with 2:25 left in the third quarter. It came off a penalty shot by junior forward Gabby Wameling after she was tripped up about 10 feet from the goal.
Senior Shannon Brown knotted things up with her goal at the 11:34 mark in the final quarter.
"Once we hit the second goal, I hate to say it, but it kind of seemed like RFA was a little flustered," Kennedy said. "So we just had to ramp up our energy a little bit more."
Sophomore forward Addie Esce gave the Northstars a lead with just under six minutes to go in the game.
The Black Knights pressed to score and even things up in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, but fell short.
"It means so much, because I've been on this team for like four years and we haven't one it a single time," Wagner said. "And like each year we just get closer and closer and like every year it's against Rome. So to finally beat them in the championship just means everything."
The Northstars fell to Baldwinsville in last year's title game and to RFA in the 2019 semifinals.
C-NS now advances to next Saturday's state regionals against Section IV's Greene at 11 a.m. The game will be played in Sydney.
"We're ready, baby. We're ready," Kennedy said. "If we play like this and we play with that heart and that desire, we should be okay."
