There may come a time when the end of the Cicero-North Syracuse girls soccer team's season Sunday night feels more like a stepping stone than a stop sign.
Right now, however, that time feels a long way off to a talented Northstars team that had come so close to a landmark win for the program.
Valentina Castelli and Melena Cerulli buried second-half goals for Section XI's Commack to sink C-NS, 2-0, in the Class AAA state title game at Homer High School.
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C-NS came into the game ranked No. 1 in the state and riding a 20-game winning streak after a season-opening loss.
It left the turf still in search of the school's first-ever state title in the sport, the promise of the future hard to make out amid a brew of darkness, wind and flurries.
That perspective was left to coach Jeremy Lenchert, who was in his second year running the Northstars when the team last climbed its way to the title game in 2007.
He pointed out that the C-NS lineup Sunday had not a single senior, and suggested that the promising young players shivering and tearing up at the moment will someday view disappointing results differently.
"I guess I'll finish with this," Lenchert said before heading to the bus. "The past two seasons, we won sectionals and we lost in regionals. This group found a way to not just get past regionals, but they had to play a sub-regional game on top of that. And they found a way to get to the state final. They're all coming back. I know exactly where they're going to want to be next year. I know they're going to want to win. And we will, too."
Cicero-North Syracuse came into the contest on the fumes of a roll that hit its pinnacle Saturday night, when the team beat Oceanside in double overtime of a rain-delayed semifinal.
"We knew we had to bring a lot of intensity and knowing it was our last game just to have everything we got," said C-NS freshman forward Sloane Raymond.
With a strong wind at their back in the first half, the Northstars looked like a resurgent squad. Their scorers produced several quality chances, but none found the back of the Commack net.
"I think throughout the game we had the better run of play, but at the same time, you've got to finish your chances. We just didn't do that today," Lenchert said.
"It was really frustrating, but we knew we had to keep our heads up no matter what," said Northstars sophomore forward Abigail Mackey. "If we put them down, the chances would stop coming. So we just kept our heads up and kept going no matter what."
The wind edge, and Commack's fortunes changed in the second half.
The Eagles' pressure quickly paid off when Sarah Franke was knocked down in the C-NS box, setting up a penalty shot. Castelli lined up to beat C-NS goalie Natalie LaPoint far right side at the 5:33 mark.
"I was hoping to go lower right because that's my number one (option). I always go lower," Castelli said.
The Northstars bounced back to rev up a couple of quality bids to tie the game.
With 30 minutes left in the second half, a C-NS corner kick plopped the ball right in front of the Cougars' goal. The Northstars got a couple of clean shots off, but both simply thudded into traffic in front of the net.
"It's all just the way the game happens. Not everything's going to go in," Mackey said.
And with 23:32 left, Cougars goalie Rebecca Gillon was out of position on another C-NS bid, but defender Sophie Denson was in the right spot to flick the ball away just before it crossed the goal line.
"I just knew I had to do whatever I could to prevent the ball from going to the net," Denson said. "Just protect the net at all costs. And the team, I knew I had them behind me, and everything was so important at this moment. So I just knew we had the energy, especially after (Castelli's) penalty kick, and we were ready to keep going."
Cerulli then posted the insurance goal for Commack with 9:57 left, denying this C-NS team the win that would have put it in the school record books forever.
"Yeah, the pressure is definitely there, but we knew how to handle it a lot better than when we were younger," Mackey said. "We've definitely grown and we just handled it better than we would have last year."
And next season, Mackey (22-12 this year), Raymond (22-17) and sophomore Evelyn Maglente (17-6) will again be focal points of a C-NS squad that will have another chance to exploit the growing pains of champions.
"We know we have a lot ahead of us," Mackey said. "We know we had to keep our heads up, but we know that if we keep growing together, we will be here, we will be over there (the winning side) next year."
