NNY soccer’s best converge across eras at IHC
New Hartford junior Raiyah Patterson (left) scores against Marcellus during a 3-1 victory in the NNY Soccer Hall of Fame Tournament.
By JOSH ST. CROIX
WATERTOWN — The elite of Upstate New York soccer, both past and present, were on full display this weekend at Immaculate Heart Central.
IHC hosted the first NNY Soccer Hall of Fame Tournament, showcasing 20 of the top area varsity girls soccer teams with a marathon of games across its three grass fields. Six varsity boys teams took part in the accompanying Bishop’s Cup.
Amid the competitive clashes from a pool led by two reigning state champions, a state runner-up and three additional sectional champs, the inaugural class for the NNY Soccer Hall of Fame was celebrated with an induction ceremony.
To punctuate the festivities on Saturday night, IHC athletic director and tournament host Kurt Robbins captured the 500th victory of his esteemed four-decade coaching career with the Cavaliers.
Champions were crowned in a variety of classes on Sunday, the second straight day with 10 hours of high-level varsity soccer action at the scenic Ives Street campus.
UPPER ECHELON COMPETES
The NNY Soccer Hall of Fame Tournament for varsity girls soccer was highlighted by state champions Marcellus (Class B) and Cincinnatus (Class D) along with runner-up Cicero-North Syracuse (Class AA). They were joined by fellow Section III champions New Hartford (Class A) and West Genesee (Class AAA).
Other premiere programs included Section VII champion Saranac, Section III Class AA runner-up East Syracuse Minoa, which finished 17-2 last season, along with Syracuse-Christian Brothers Academy and Beaver River, both coming off 12-win campaigns and sectional semifinal appearances.
Baldwinsville, IHC, Thousand Islands, Sandy Creek, Belleville Henderson, Altmar-Parish-Williamstown and Pulaski also represented Section III. Massena, Gouverneur and Tupper Lake competed from Section X, and Amsterdam of Section II filled out the field.
“We’ve got some really good talent here for the weekend,” said Robbins, among the leaders of the organizing committee. “It’s been a great day of soccer so far.”
All eyes were on Saturday’s matinee matchup between New Hartford and Marcellus. The Spartans held off the Mustangs for a 3-2 victory in the clash of sectional champions and claimed a 2-0 win over Baldwinsville the next day to win the tourney’s Class A division.
“I tell the girls at the beginning of the season that I try to schedule the hardest nonleague opponents I can,” New Hartford coach Frank DuRoss said after the win over Marcellus. “I don’t care about wins there. I care about challenging us and helping us grow as a team. That’s what this weekend is about.”
New Hartford is in pursuit of its sixth straight sectional championship while Marcellus has won back-to-back state titles and three straight Section III crowns. The teams combined for a 38-4-1 record last fall.
Both anticipated the early-season test Saturday at IHC, and junior forward Raiyah Patterson provided the upper-hand early for the Spartans.
She scored just three minutes in after gaining a clear path and punching her shot into the back of an empty net after powering past the Marcellus goalie, who ran out to challenge the shot.
Patterson tacked on another goal later in the first half to push the New Hartford advantage to 2-0.
“It was a great feeling,” Patterson said of her halftime mood. “They did almost come back, but it was a good game. We had great plays to get me those two goals.”
Gabriella Jerome scored to push New Hartford’s lead to 3-0 in the second half before the Mustangs stormed back in the final minutes behind senior star Lexie Fragnito.
The fifth-year striker, a Penn State commit and member of the Team USA women’s 17-and-under national team, delivered a goal with 3:36 left to cut the deficit to 3-2. Classmate Marielle Kennedy, who assisted on Fragnito’s goal, scored with six minutes left to spark the rally attempt.
New Hartford, however, withstood the late push to beat Marcellus for the second straight season.
“It was a great game,” Patterson said. “It was very physical, but I’m glad we pulled it out, and we played great as a team, too. We had a lot of combinations together, so I think that’s what really got us through it.”
She added: “It was really communication by staying calm, keeping composure, and playing more possession, so we didn’t just kick it up and give them a chance to counterattack.”
Syracuse-CBA and West Genesee played to a 1-1 tie in another highly anticipated matchup on Saturday. Cincinnatus, C-NS, ESM, Sandy Creek, Beaver River and A-P-W all won both of their respective games in the tourney.
Host IHC also swept its weekend games with a 6-0 win over Thousand Islands and a 9-0 victory over Belleville Henderson. Mary Curtis finished with a combined five goals and one assist while Anna Stacy added four goals and two assists to lead the Cavaliers.
“The reason we come to tournaments like this is to get good competition, and obviously Marcellus has a great history and were state champions last year,” DuRoss said. “We had a great game with them last year, so to play those kinds of opponents, that’s what we’re always looking for in our nonleague schedule.”
IHC, Beaver River, Sandy Creek, Utica-Proctor, Pulaski and Sandy Creek all played in the varsity boys tournament — the Bishop’s Cup. Games started at 10 a.m. with roughly 10 hours of consecutive games each day between the two tourneys combined.
NNY SOCCER HALL OF FAME
The first NNY Soccer Hall of Fame class was enshrined on Saturday evening.
The startup distinction aims to honor the game’s best from Upstate New York and has been in the works for the past couple of years. Robbins and other area coaches and contributors collaborated to create the Hall of Fame with the goal to shine the deserved spotlight on potentially overlooked icons from the North Country.
The first class included Watertown High School and Nazareth University star Tatum Overton, legendary Marcellus coach Laurie Updike-Kaup, longtime official Alen Drake, and Harrisville icon Charles Folsom Jr.
“It’s a start, and hopefully we can keep it going every year,” Robbins said. “I think it will be really good, and it brings soccer here. There are people everywhere — that’s the good part. I love seeing everybody here watching games.”
MILESTONE MOMENT
In all the hoopla of organizing the large-scale tournament with premiere programs and coaching his team to a pair of victories, Robbins experienced a personal milestone in his return to the IHC sideline after stepping down in 2023.
The longtime fixture of the larger area soccer community, and state champion coach of four decades between the IHC girls and boys teams, claimed victory No. 500 of his career.
He became the fifth coach in state history to join the exclusive club when IHC beat Thousand Islands 6-0 on Saturday night. He added career win No. 501 the next evening.
Robbins ranks fifth on the New York State Public High School Athletic Association varsity soccer all-time coaching wins list, now 17 behind former Lowville coach Leo Sammon for the No. 4 spot. Addison coach Kay Peters holds the state record at 551 wins entering the season, according to the NYSPHSAA record book.
Robbins led the IHC girls team to a state title in 2002 as co-champions in Class C and helped build both Cavalier varsity teams into perennial Section III title contenders.
