The Cicero-North Syracuse girls soccer team was squeezed out of the state Class AAA playoffs Saturday, losing to Section II's Saratoga Springs on penalty kicks.
After regulation and overtime ended in a 1-1 draw, Saratoga Springs won the tiebreaker 5-4. C-NS finishes the year 13-5-2.
"You don't want to finish the season on PKs, but they've got to find a winner, decide who's going to move on, and it just wasn't our moment," said Northstars coach Jeremy Lenchert.
With the game deadlocked 0-0 at halftime, C-NS' Evelyn Maglente broke the seal in the second half with the goal that gave the Northstars a lead. But Saratoga Springs tied it up with only a few minutes left in regulation.
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"You know, it could have been more than the one (goal) that we had, but it was a fairly even game throughout. And then they ended up tying it up off of a corner kick," Lenchert said.
Cicero-North Syracuse overcame an 0-3 start to reach this round of the postseason. It is the second straight year the team has dropped a nail-bitter in the regionals.
"It wasn't the way we wanted to end the season. You want to win the last game of the year. But they've got a lot to be proud of," Lenchert said. "I said 'It's going to hurt, but it's supposed to hurt. But over time they'll be able to look back on this and think of the success that they had this year. And then, one of the things we talked about all season long, which is kind of how young (they were) and they found a road to get there."
