Two hurdles left for OHS girls soccer

The obstacles facing the Oneonta High girls soccer team this season seem to be old news now, and the Yellowjackets are back where they’ve been seven other times in history — among the state’s final four teams.

Oneonta (16-3-2) plays Section Six’s Grand Island in a Class A semifinal at 5 p.m. Friday at Union-Endicott. Section Ei[an error occurred while processing this directive]ght’s Rockville Centre South Side (15-1-2) and Section Three’s Christian Brothers Academy (20-1-2) play in the other semifinal — 5 p.m. Friday at Binghamton High School.

The state final is at 2 p.m. Saturday at Binghamton Alumni Stadium. Oneonta has never won a state title.

"In the beginning, it would have surprised me, but now, it doesn’t surprise me at all," OHS senior Eileen Coyle said of reaching the final four. "If we want to win, if we are all working together, we can beat anybody."

Oneonta advanced to the Class B state final last season under 30th-year coach Helen Sandford but lost, 1-0, in double overtime to Marcellus. Sandford retired after the season and was replaced by former junior varsity coach Jerry Mackey.

"I think the good thing of the transition is, with the exception of (senior goalie) Breanna Gault, who was brought up as a freshman, I had all the girls on JV," said Mackey, whose team is ranked fourth in the state. "It wasn’t a matter of doing introductions. It was settling in with this group and finding the right mix and seeing what this group could do."

Grand Island, ranked third in the state, is no stronger to the final four either. The Vikings have lost in the state semifinals the last two seasons.

"We feel comfortable playing if it’s 0-0 or if we have the lead," Mackey said. "We’re ready for every scenario. Whatever happens at this level, you have to be ready for anything."

Grand Island beat Section Five’s Rochester Aquinas, 2-0, in a state quarterfinal last week behind goals by Sara Hilliard and Alicia Fisher.

Neither Hilliard nor Fisher are who worry Mackey the most, however. Jessica Remmes leads Grand Island with 43 goals.

"Forty-three goals is quite a few goals," Mackey said. "We feel like we’ve matched up with girls who are dangerous and we feel like we have some good individual man-markers.

"Maybe if you make a mistake, having a goalie who can bail you out is a good comfort level," he continued. "We’re going to have our work cut out for us."

There aren’t many goalies with as much big-game experience as Gault, who has 12 shutouts this season. She made two saves in a shootout to help OHS knock out Section One’s Tappan Zee in the first round of the state tournament. She followed it with a one-save shutout in Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Section Nine’s New Paltz.

Coyle scored against New Paltz and leads the team with 16 goals and 16 assists. Kate Jaffie has 10 goals and six assists and Theresa Kabat has five goals and eight assists.

Oneonta is 6-0-1 since suffering back-to-back losses late in the regular season. The Jackets fell, 4-0, to Chenango Forks on Oct. 4 and 3-2 to Seton Catholic on Oct. 6. That cost Oneonta a chance at winning the STAC’s East Division. Since then, though, OHS has outscored its opponents, 18-3.

"In hindsight, that was probably the best thing that happened to us," Mackey said. "From that point on, it clicked. We haven’t had a lackadaisical effort since."

Notes: Grand Island freshman goalie Allie Weiser had 15 shutouts this season. ... Rockville Centre is ranked first in the state and CBA is second.

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P.J. Harmer can be reached at pharmer@thedailystar.com or 6-7-432-1000, ext. 229.