GRAND ISLAND — Ava Pasceri scored one goal in the first 15 games of the season. Naturally she was going to be the overtime hero.
Lockport’s junior defender saw Cam Cummings with the ball on her foot and took off.
“I knew that that was the moment, you just need to make the run, I needed to be there,” Pasceri said. “It was hard to do because the girl was in front of me but that was the only opportunity we really had and it was overtime and we had to go for it because that was it.”
With just over five minutes to go in the extra period, Lockport played the ball up the field where Shya Wittcop turned on a dime and fed Pasceri to get in and chip it past the keeper for the overtime winner at the top of the box.
The goal gave Lockport a 2-1 win over Lewiston-Porter in the Niagara Frontier League championship game Wednesday. It also gave the Lions their first league championship since 2013.
After the win, Lockport head coach Anthony Pellicano was already thinking about next week. Because that’s when the Lions embark on a quest for their first Section VI championship in program history.
“Celebrate it,” Pellicano said. “But we go back to work tomorrow for the section.”
Both teams had goals on rebounds in the opening half to send the game into the half with the score tied up at one. The first goal came from Lew-Port’s Ireland O’Connor when she unleashed a missile from approximately the 20-yard line and into the net before the Lions’ Shya Wittcop cleaned up a loose ball with just under six minutes to go in the half to make it a 1-1 game.
“The goal from Ireland definitely calmed our team down because once we get a goal they just kind of get a little bit more composed,” Lewiston-Porter head coach Emily Brook said. “Obviously we’re trying to get more goals and we definitely had our chances we just couldn’t capitalize.”
The girls game continued the trend that started in the boys game — featuring the same schools — of a tight, back and forth defensive game as both teams had chances in the opening half but they were only able to pocket one goal each.
The teams continued to push for the breakthrough in the second half but neither side was able to and the game went to overtime. Late in the second half the field was heavily slanted towards the Lancers who were desperately seeking the winner however, the Lions backline was up to the task holding them off.
“They were just moving the ball around,” Pellicano said. “They’re very good, very technical. I just told the girls I said they’re going to be able to move the ball, don’t get frustrated if they keep the ball for a long period of time. When we get our chances you just got to take them.”
In total, the Lions had six shots while the Lancers had 13 shots.
The Lions win sees them split the season series after the Lancers got a 3-0 win back on Sept. 27.
“I think it’s just the mindset going into an NFL championship is always the difference. You’re going into it where before we were playing for just a typical league game,” Brook said.
Heading into the Section VI tournament starting Wednesday, Oct. 22, both teams will be looking to extend their season by at least one more day.