Leading off today: Penalty-kick shootouts are used to avoid having soccer games go on indefinitely. Of course, there's nothing to prevent the penalty kicks from going on forever either.
Frewsburg and Westfield/Brocton started getting into that territory Saturday in the Section 6 girls Class C final before Amanda Dilts took matters into her own hand.
Dilts drilled a penalty kick into the top corner in the 10th round of a shootout to eliminate third-seeded Westfield/Brocton and send the fifth-seeded Bears into the New York State Public High School Athletic Association quarterfinals next weekend.
"I never thought it would come down to me," Tilts said.
The teams went scoreless through 80 minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of overtime. Both sides went 5-for-5 to complete the first phase of penalty kicks, setting the remainder of the match up as sudden death.
Goalies Madison Voty of Frewsburg and Angel Busch of the Wolverines matched saves in the seventh round. Westfield/Brocton's ninth shooter fired wide, but the Bears missed the opportunity to advance when their attempt hit the crossbar.
Westfield/Brocton's next shooter missed high, setting the stage for Dilts, a four-year varsity player with one goal on the season and two in her career.
"She has just been amazing all year long," Frewsburg coach Scott Stone said. "She's done everything we've asked of her. She's played amazing soccer from Day 1 and she's become a leader, always supporting the girls. She was the one on the bench after every overtime getting the girls together just to say, 'Keep fighting.'"
Vestal ... again: Emilia Cappellett scored on a breakaway with 4:23 left in the first overtime Vestal went on to a 1-0 victory over host Maine-Endwell in the Section 4 girls Class A, giving the Bears their 10th consecutive championship.
Vestal goalie Emerson Wong posted the shutout in the rubber match between the sides. The teams had split a pair of regular-season contests and are frequent opponents in the postseason.
"This was a different vibe this year," Cappellett said. "I think we lost 10 seniors last year and a lot of them were Division I athletes. We went to the final four last year and it was very hard to adjust and I just knew for a lot of us -- there are 10 of us graduating again -- I just knew we wanted to put everything we had into it. We did and I couldn't be happier."
In addition to losing the large senior class, Vestal experienced a coaching change as Gina Baldwin took over for Bill Stepanovsky.
Hamburg strikes early: Senior captain Laura Bogner drilled home a 30-yard direct kick 90 seconds into the game to start Hamburg on its way to a 3-0 win over North Tonawanda for the Section 6 Class A-1 title, the program's first crown since 1992.
Bogner scored again on a direct kick from nearly the same spot 10 minutes later as the Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead.
"It was a long time coming," coach Tom Zugger said. "They played so well together today. They really, really wanted this win. I don't think we've never been more ready to play a game then we were today."
The Bulldogs will play A-2 champion Grand Island for the overall Class A championship and a place in the NYSPHSAA quarterfinals.
F-M stays on schedule: Fayetteville-Manlius may have overachieved a year ago in beating favored Baldwinsville for the Section 3 girls Class AA title, but expectations are higher this time around and the Hornets continue to meet them.
F-M defeated West Genesee 3-0 to complete its successful defense and improve to 17-1. Hannah Knych scored in the 32nd minute to break a scoreless tie.
"It took a while to develop, but they believe in this program and care about themselves," said coach Brent Ostrander.
• Spencerport, a Class A semifinalist after back-to-back NYSPHSAA championships, is in the mix again. The Rangers downed Pittsford Mendon 2-0 for their fourth straight Section 5 title.
