Rangers take Class AAA crown

Rangers take Class AAA crown

None of the Spencerport Rangers girl's soccer team was born when they last won a Section Five championship. In fact, some of their parents weren't even married when the Rangers last won the crown in 1980.

The last league championship for Spencerport in any female sport came 18 years ago.

All the sixth-seeded and 6-8-2 Rangers had to do to break the drought was to defeat the third seeded Fairport Raiders, second seeded Gates-Chili and top seed Penfield in consecutive playoff rounds.

The slipper fit.
The Rangers received goals from sophomores Brittany Kinmond and Kaitlyn Chatt to defeat Fairport on the road 2-1 in the first round. Then Kara Farnsworth and Chatt scored in a 2-2 tie with Gates Chili with the Rangers advancing on penalty kicks to send them into the finals against the top seed Patriots.

In the title game, the Rangers made Kinmond's first half goal stand up and avenged two previous losses to the Patriots this season for a 1-0 victory and the championship. The lone goal came with less than two minutes remaining in the opening half and was her 20th of the season.

"It hasn't really sunk in yet, but it was a tremendous accomplishment," said Spencerport head coach Jamie Schneider of the title. "We played five sophomores, but had a lot of key seniors who will be hard to replace. It was a good season with lots to be proud of. Now that the season is over, we can take the time to reflect a little more."

The Rangers season came to an end in the Class A state qualifying game with a 2-0 loss to Greece Arcadia in a game played at Hamilton Field at rainy and windy Caledonia-Mumford High School.

After 37 minutes of scoreless soccer, the Titans Jessica Griffin and Jessica Grauss each scored in the final 150 seconds of the first half for the only tallies of the game.

"The (field) turf helped them and our defense was not as sharp with their to chances, which could have been cleared," said Schneider. "But our heads are up; the effort was there."

Seniors who played their final game, but take away that long-sought Sectional title were Sara Alessi, Gina DeBellis, Erin O'Brien, Ashley Schreiner, Abby Blakely, Farnsworth, Gabrielle DeStefano, Katie Balcerak, Laura Inzana, Nora Venezky and Brittany Sheffet.