ONEONTA _ Sometimes, the best defense is a good offense.
Take the Schenevus girls soccer team, for example, which spent the better portion of Saturday's Section Four Class D championship game buzzing around Davenport's goal for a 2-0 victory at the National Soccer Hall of Fame fields.
"We've got fire trucks waiting for us," said coach Stephanie Banks, whose second-seeded Dragons (17-1) advanced to a Class D state quarterfinal this Saturday at a time to be announced back at the Soccer Hall fields. Schenevus will meet the state's top-ranked Class D team, McGraw (19-0), a 3-0 winner over Remsen in Saturday's Section Three final at Cortland State. "Everything's so surreal right now."
The play of Brina Herr and Schenevus' flat-out speed at every position certainly fall into the surreal realm. So, too, does the 17th shutout victory for the Tri-Valley League champion Dragons, whose first sectional title since 2000 ended the top-seeded Wildcats' 39-game unbeaten streak.
"Schenevus' speed really turned out to be too much for us," said Davenport coach Ray Preston, whose program seemed to ignore the loss of top scorer Chelsea Haight to graduation and starting sophomore goalie Katie Goss to a torn ACL in her right knee in returning to the sectional final for the fourth straight season.
"It wasn't just speed in one place, it was speed all over the field," Preston continued. "That was really the factor. They were beating us to balls all over the field. They are a quality team."
Haight and Goss led the Wildcats to a 20-0-1 finish last season, which included a share of the Section Four Class D championship with Edmeston. After playing to a scoreless tie in last year's sectional final, Davenport lost a shootout to Edmeston, which went on to tie S.S. Seward, 2-2, in the Class D state championship game.
"No one would have dreamt we would have been back here this year," said Preston, who added his players never talked about the longest unbeaten girls soccer streak in the state, which included a 2-2 tie with Gilboa in the Delaware League crossover last month. "I remember looking at the schedule this year and saying, Boy, it would be nice if we could win seven or eight games.' ... But everybody did their jobs and we were stingy on defense."
Schenevus gave the top-seeded Wildcats (17-1-1) plenty of opportunities to showcase their defense, which featured heavy-footed senior sweeper Samantha Meyerhoff fronting lanky junior replacement goalie Brittany Chase.
Herr tested both shortly after the opening kickoff, following a deep-penetration run down the right side with a rolling cross to the middle that Chase picked up just before Cassandra Brown reached the ball. Schenevus didn't let up as Brown and Jessica Bentley sandwiched shots over the crossbar around a Davenport goal kick before Herr opened the scoring 7 minutes, 12 seconds into play.
Herr again worked her way down the right side of the field, but this time, she broke free around the 18-yard line and drew Chase out of the net. Two short chops to her left helped her elude a defender and then the oncoming Chase. Herr got just enough foot on the latter to send the ball rolling into the left corner of the goal for a 1-0 lead.
"I kind of just ran through it and I was going to slide, but I got a card in the last game when I slid, so I just ran through it," said Herr, who scored her 11th goal this season and third in Schenevus' last two games. "I didn't think I was going to score. I usually score and then I don't score for another three games."
Said Preston: "She got loose. Unfortunately, we were about 15 yards off when she received the ball behind her and she got loose. She's one of the players on the field you can't let loose."
The Dragons' constant offensive pressure led to a 4-0 advantage in shots at halftime. Schenevus allowed two shots in the second half, but goalie Catherine Hernandez easily stopped both.
"Defensively, they're just strong," Preston said. "They just contain you, and obviously, the sweeper (Jayme) Bentley is excellent."
Herr played a huge role in Schenevus' second goal, too. She took control of a loose ball on the right side at midfield, beat defender Katie May with a cut to the inside and carried the ball to just about the top of the 18-yard box.
With Jessica Bentley tracking the play on the left side, Herr grounded a cross to the opposite corner of the box. Bentley dribbled a few steps then pulled up for a hard shot that nipped a defender's shoulder.
Chase seemed locked in on the ball until it popped up off her teammate and fell behind her, just under the crossbar, for a 2-0 Schenevus lead 15:44 into the second half on Bentley's team-best 14th goal this season.
"The girls executed beautifully," Banks said. "They did exactly what we wanted them to do."
Schenevus will take a six-game winning streak and home-field advantage into this Saturday's state quarterfinal, and reaching this stage of the season didn't seem to shock Banks at all.
"We knew we would have a good season, we knew we would have a great season is what I should say," Banks said. "Our goal was to play to November. Well, now we get to play to mid-November."
Schenevus allowed its only goals this season in a 2-1 regular-season loss to Edmeston on Oct. 14. Hernandez said that setback keyed the Dragons' sectional run.
"I think Edmeston kind of woke us up," she said. "We have to completely be a team and actually work for what we wanted, and we really wanted this."
Schenevus 2, Davenport 0
SECTION FOUR CLASS D
Championship at Soccer Hall fields
Schenevus1 1 _ 2
Davenport0 0 _ 0
2-Schenevus (17-1): Brina Herr 1-0, Jessica Bentley 1-0.
1-Davenport (17-1-1): None.
Shots-corner kicks: S 9-2; D 2-3.
Goalies: Catherine Hernandez (S) 2; Brittany Chase (D) 4.
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Dean Russin can be reached at drussin@thedailystar.com or 607-432-1000, ext. 215.
