Churchville-Chili advanced to the Section V Class AA boys soccer final for the fourth time in the last six years, battling their rival Spencerport. But this time was different as the Saints came away with a 3-2 overtime victory on a goal by senior Elijah Bailey after a feed from classmate Andrew Berardicurti.
The victory marked the first Section V title since 1998 according to the Section V website, and their seventh overall.
“Spencerport is a big rival and we lost to them both times this season and besides that, we’ve been facing them since we were nine or ten years old and summer team and always come this close,” Bailey said. “They beat us out for state cup…and we finally got them at the most important time.
“We felt like both losses we dominated, but we came up short, so we were motivated. I feel so happy for coach (John Mahoney) most of all because he’s been going through tough stuff with his family, and it’s been so long, and I feel so happy for him.”
The Saints were seeded second behind top-seed Spencerport after an 11-3-1 regular season. They defeated Victor 2-1 and Canandaigua 4-0 over the first two rounds and ended their semi-final game with Hilton in a 0-0 tie after double-overtime before winning 7-6 on penalty kicks to advance to the final.
Churchville-Chili only allowed ten goals all season, anchored by the defense in seniors Camden Bean and Andrew Burke with sophomores Isaac Bailey and Braeden Naujokas in front of senior goalkeeper Joshua Smith or sophomore Mason Simmons, who came on for the penalty kick portion of the Hilton semi-final win.
Berardicurti led the team with eight goals, with Bailey and Bean combining for ten more. Senior Aidan Ozkaynak and sophomore Chris Keller each had seven points while junior Colin Guilfoyle led the squad with five assists.
“The long wait is over…and it couldn’t have been written better for us against such a very good team and fierce rival of ours,” Churchville-Chili head coach Maloney said.
“We said at halftime to the guys that if we just shut them out in the second half that we have a chance to win this, and we’re a shutout soccer team – that’s what we do.
“You’ve seen us lose a Sectional final in double overtime with that much time on the clock…so I’m the last guy who is going to apologize to anybody for how that game weirdly turned out (because) we’ve been on the other end of that so many times.
“Happy for my team, happy for my school, happy for my family and just proud of the program we have. We’ve been good for a long time, but just unlucky in finals…so very happy.”
