Top-seeded Cicero-North Syracuse girls soccer advanced to the Section III Class AAA championship after defeating Rome Free Academy, 2-1, in Tuesday's semifinal matchup at Chittenango High School.
It will be the Northstars' first trip to a sectional final since falling to Liverpool in the Class AA championship in 2014.
"We honestly, we talked about it. It's been a while," C-NS coach Jeremy Lenchert said. "What we talked about was and we've been kind of stressing this all season long, that we have goals, but we don't talk about the goals. Instead, we talk about the things we've got to do to achieve the goals we want. We can't go into a game thinking about that. If we do the things we're supposed to do to get the result, the result takes care of itself."
In Wednesday's semifinal, the Northstars took a 2-0 lead into the halftime break after getting one goal apiece from seventh-grader Abigail Mackey and senior Sophia Donovan. It was Mackey's 10th goal of the season and Donovan's second.
"When sectionals come around, games are just different," Lenchert said. "You got to find goals somewhere, and teams know at this point of the season, how you play, where your threats are and sometimes you just need other players to step up."
The fourth-seeded Black Knights were able to cut the lead to one in the second half, but the Northstars' defense held off the comeback attempt.
"Our defenses, they played well. They played well for the majority of the year," Lenchert said. "We're relatively young back there, but at the same time, we also have some leadership. All four of our defenders have just been solid. We can depend on them."
The Northstars (13-2-2) entered the playoffs on an 11-game unbeaten streak and they earned a quarterfinal-round bye. RFA (10-8) defeated No. 5 Syracuse United, 3-0, in their quarterfinal matchup last Friday.
"We know that with the way we played, kind of closing out the season, that we are capable of winning a sectional title this year," Lenchert said. "So the girls, even for as young as we are, there's some confidence there, which is also good for this time of year."
The Northstars will now face the winner of Wednesday's other semifinal between No. 2 Liverpool and No. 3 Baldwinsville in the championship game. C-NS was a combined 3-0-1 against those two teams during the regular season, but Lenchert said none of that matters in the playoffs.
"Sectionals are different. Players are different," he said. "They're not fighting for a win. They're fighting to be able to keep playing, to keep playing high school soccer. We're just trying to keep their heads clear and not get complacent."
This year's championship is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Saturday at SUNY Cortland.
