New Hartford girls soccer completes three-peat in Section III

CORTLAND - The New Hartford Spartans are again champions of Class A girls soccer in Section III.

Junior Olivia Vitullo scored a tie-breaking goal in the 80th minute of play at SUNY-Cortland Friday and gave the Spartans a 3-2 victory over top seed Westhill in the sectional championship match. The win gave New Hartford (17-0-1) a third consecutive championship and a third consecutive unbeaten season within its home section.

The Spartans, seeded second for this year's playoffs and ranked third in the state by the New York State Sportswriters Association, made a perfect run to a state championship two years ago, finishing the 2021 season at 23-0-0 with a 2-1 win over Rockville Centre's South Side Cyclones. Last fall, like this one, New Hartford had a tie outside the section at NYSSCOGS' Hall of Fame Tournament early in the season and took a 21-0-1 record to the state championship match where its overall unbeaten streak ended at 59 matches with a 3-1 loss to Albertus Magnus from Bardonia.

A new steak started with a 3-0 win over Section II Colonie in August and the Spartans have now won 15 consecutive matches since their one tie. They trailed 2-1 at halftime in Cortland and well into the second half.

Freshman Elizabeth Rayhill opened the scoring Friday with a New Hartford goal midway through the first half. Rosie Mahoney countered with the tying goal a short time later for Westhill (15-3-1), and the Warriors took their 2-1 lead on a goal by Elle Herrera in the final minute before halftime.

The score went unchanged through the 60-minute mark until Maddie Truax, another New Hartford freshman, knocked home a rebound and tied the score with less than 15 minutes remaining in regulation play, and helping to set the stage for Vitullo.

More: New Hartford defeats Westhill in girls soccer Sectional final. See photos of the game

New Hartford allowed more than one goal for the third time this season. The Spartans had shut out Chittenango in the sectional quarterfinals and defeated Jamesville-DeWitt 2-1 in Tuesday's semifinal match.

The next stop for New Hartford is a regional semifinal against Beekmantown, the Section VII champion; Northern Adirondack High School in Clinton County will host that game with the winner's section hosting regional play Nov. 4 against the winner from Sections II and X. Malone's Franklin Academy is the Section X champion; Schalmont and Broadalbin-Perth meet in Saturday's Section II final.

The Class A match was one of three played at the college Friday. West Genesee defeated East Syracuse-Minoa 2-1 in overtime in the Class AA final, and Marcellus was a 2-0 winner over Christian Brothers Academy of Syracuse in Class B.

Saturday's championship trio includes games in classes AAA, C and D. Defending champion and No. 1 seed Sauquoit Valley plays fellow unbeaten Beaver River in the C match at 4:30 p.m.; Beaver River, seeded sixth, has already beaten the second and third seeds on penalty kicks in the tournament. Bishop Ludden of Syracuse plays Cincinnatus, the unbeaten No. 1 seed in Class D, and Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse will decide the section's first-ever AAA champion.

This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: New Hartford girls win third consecutive Section III soccer title