Edmeston/Morris tops Franklin 1-0 for Class D sectional title

Oct. 28—The Edmeston/Morris girls soccer team won the Section IV Class D championship with a 1-0 shutout of Franklin Saturday at the Wright National Soccer Campus in Oneonta.

"It's a big step for our program," E/M coach Juli Glassman said of winning the section title. "Last year, being knocked out at this phase of the game and the girls just being able to bounce back and really come back wanting it, going after it and getting it against a really good Franklin team."

E/M was defeated by two-time defending champion Schenevus in the title game last year.

"They definitely know what it felt like to leave that field last year and not be able to go on," E/M coach Rhoda Flint said. "They didn't want that to happen this year."

It's the first sectional title for the team as a combined program. Morris won the section outright in 2011 and was co-champions in 2012 after losing in penalties.

Edmeston last won the sectional crown in 2008.

Hannah Wist found Sophie Robinson with space in front of the net and Robinson punched it in to give E/M the lead five minutes into the game.

"A perfect pass from Hannah and a great finish," Glassman said of the goal.

"It's stuff that we had practiced this week," Flint said of the scoring opportunity. "Knowing that they play a flat back and we had to get behind their defense and it had to be quick passes."

"Their goalie is pretty quick with her hands," she added. "We weren't going to score on her just by shooting outside, we had to have runs and it ended up being a perfect opportunity. Scoring within the first five minutes is what you want to do to put a lot of pressure on the other team, and we can't ask for anything more than that."

Toward the end of the first half, Franklin had several scoring chances but were unable to capitalize on them heading into the break.

E/M knew they needed to tighten things up in the second half to keep the Purple Devils off the board.

"Shannon [Kingsbury] is very good," Flint said. "For her not to score in a game says a lot about our defense. We had to man-mark her and we just talked at half time about how we had to win the ball. We were not winning the ball a lot in the first half and keeping possession. We really had to do that. This is one and done, we knew they were going to come out tough."

"We just made a couple adjustments," she added. "Kept man-marking [Kingsbury] front and back and not giving her too many shots. They did have some opportunities; they're a good team."

E/M goalie Abby White had a few clutch saves in the second half, including a diving save to her right to deny Franklin of the equalizer with 12 minutes to go.

"[White] came up huge," Glassman said. "She's a good keeper."

"We haven't had a lot of games where she's had to make saves," Flint said of White. "We had a handful of games this year where she had to really make some good saves and she comes up big. We just haven't had a chance to really use her because our defense is pretty good."

E/M was able to keep Franklin off the board in the remaining minutes and clinched the Class D title with the shutout.

"We're just very proud of the girls and the program we are trying to develop," Flint said. "The girls are not only good soccer players, they're all-around good kids. It's been a joy to work with them."

"The community support, we can't thank them enough," she added. "They were sent off this morning with firetrucks and crowds of people and they are going to do that on the way home. Our fanbase has been huge this year too."

"We're excited for them to have this experience," Glassman added.

Edmeston/Morris will face Section III champion Cincinnatus in the Class D Regional Championship at Nottingham High School in Syracuse Saturday at 2 p.m.

Edmeston/Morris 1, Franklin 0

E/M ... 1-0-1

F ... 0-0-0

E/M: Sophie Robinson 1-0, Hannah Wist 0-1

F: none

Shots-Corner Kicks: E/M 16-4, F 6-2

Goalies: Abby White (E/M) 6, Maddie Hyzer (F) 10, Lucas VanDyke (F) 2