The Cicero-North Syracuse girls soccer team came into the season as defending champs in Section III.
Having that kind of target on your back could be tough to navigate, especially for a team as young as the Northstars.
None of that mattered on Saturday at SUNY Cortland when C-NS took down Baldwinsville, 1-0, to repeat as the Class AAA champion.
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"For as young as we are, most of these young players were here last year too," C-NS coach Jeremy Lenchert said. "And they wanted to come back. They wanted to win this again."
The Northstars' determination was on display early in Saturday's championship.
Five minutes into the game, defender Katalina Lawrence made what would end up being the play of the game.
After a lot of commotion around the front of the net, Lawrence snuck one in the goal for her fifth score of the season to give her team a 1-0 lead.
"At first I was like, 'Oh, my gosh, I have to get this. This has to go in,'" Lawrence said. "And when it did, I just didn't believe it. I was like, 'Oh, my gosh, I actually scored.' And then when it was over, I was like, 'OK, we have to keep it this way so we have to win.'"
Tonight it was Lawrence's turn to be the hero on offense, but all year it has been a different player making the big play for C-NS. Coach Lenchert believes that's something that has made his Northstars a tough out all season.
"On any given night, it's not like you can just look to shut us down – like shut this player down and shut that player down," he said. "The goals are going to come from other players if you try to shut somebody down from scoring."
With Lawrence being a defender, her mindset had to quickly shift back to keeping the Bees off the board for the rest of the game to try and preserve the one-goal lead she gave the team.
"My mentality is basically for my defense and myself to lock in and let no goals past us and keep feeding the balls to our strikers so we can get more goals," she said.
Lawrence and the Northstars' defense did just that and kept Baldwinsville off the board for the entire game.
Scoring early is always the goal in any game, but Lechert admits scoring that early is still nerve-wracking in a game with so much on the line.
"I like to be ahead, don't get me wrong. But at the same time, there's a lot of game to go," he said. "We missed some chances throughout the game that maybe we could have finished, but we defended well throughout the night and it was an even game and we just found a way to win it."
While the Bees did not get on the board, it was not due to lack of effort.
Right up to the final 30 seconds of the game, Baldwinsville threatened to score, but the C-NS defense would not bend. "They're a good group and they fight hard and just couldn't get it in the net tonight," Baldwinsville coach Kathy Morse said of her team.
"I think (the team) really played well all year," Morse said. "We stepped it up. Our senior leadership was awesome this year and without them, we don't get here."
C-NS now has its sights set on getting over the next hump: regionals.
Last season, the Northstars suffered defeat in this round. This year, the team's goal has been to get back and leave as regional champs.
While young, the experience C-NS gathered from being in this round last fall will be valuable when the Northstars take the pitch next weekend.
"One of the things we noticed last year before that game against Shen was young players were nervous," Lenchert said. "This was their first time playing in a regional championship game and now they want it. The nerves are gone. They're just determined now."
C-NS (13-5-1) will play the Section II champion in regionals at Nottingham High School next Saturday.
