By STEVE BRADLEY
GATES, N.Y – The Williamson girls soccer team began taking penalty kicks during each of their practices about a month ago. Their efforts were rewarded on Friday night.
Junior Natalie Schmeelk converted into the lower left corner of the net in the first round of the shootout to send the top-seeded Marauders past No. 2 Geneseo, 4-3, and into the Class C Regional Qualifier after the teams played 110 scoreless minutes in the Section V Class C1 championship game at Gates Chili High School.
Williamson (16-3-1) and Geneseo (15-4-1) were declared co-champions. Each team will be awarded a Section V trophy and each player on both teams received a championship patch.
“Yesterday at practice was our best practice for PKs, so when we got to them I was like ‘it is what it is,’” Williamson coach Sarah Klejment said. “We’ve been practicing them for a month and when it came down to the ‘golden goal’ one, I knew that if we could get the first one in that it would put the rattles on them to have to score, so that’s why we picked to go first.”
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Schmeelk, who scored seven goals this season, delivered.
Geneseo’s final attempt went wide, allowing Williamson to celebrate its eighth girls soccer title and first since 2019.
“Over the last week Natalie has really dialed in and worked on her PK and just perfecting her form and what she wanted to do,” Klejment said.
“I’ve always gone bottom left and that’s what I wanted to do,” Schmeelk said. “I did what I wanted, but I was definitely scared.”
She also had a bit of “twin telepathy” on her side, as twin sister, Lauren, the Marauders leading scorer with 25 goals this season, converted her PK in the first round.
“We just have that connection and as soon as she made it, I just kind of calmed down,” Natalie Schmeelk said.
The conversion was extra sweet for Lauren Schmeelk, who hit the post on a PK during the first half of regulation.
“It’s surreal,” Lauren Schmeelk said of advancing after falling to Holley in last year’s final. “We’ve all been playing together since we were 8, and it’s amazing to all come up together and have the same coach. It’s great.”
The game did not feature many high-quality scoring chances beyond the early PK.
The Blue Devils had the first chance in overtime on a direct kick early before the Marauders spent the majority of the second half in the Geneseo end. Lauren Schmeelk fired just high on a direct kick from 20 yards out and Williamson also had two corner kick opportunities.
Williamson goalie Katie Kuhl came up huge in the final minute of the second overtime, stopping Gabriella Lee’s shot from point blank range.
“Katie has let in six goals the season and that is just ridiculous,” Klejment said. “The defense in front of her is amazingly strong, but she still had to come up with some big saves when we needed them. But six goals all season, what are you going to do with that?”
Sarah Niles and Audrey Murray also converted PKs for Williamson while Eleanor Bailey, Alison Fowler and Madilyn Ladelpha found the net for Geneseo.
Both Kuhl and Geneseo’s Kendal Bennett came up with saves during the first round of penalty kicks.
Geneseo was seeking its fifth crown and first since 2020.
“I am so happy with what they’ve done,” said 11th-year Geneseo coach Nick Drollette, who also guided the Blue Devils to sectional titles in 2016 and 2020. “Obviously we would like to be playing in the state qualifier on Tuesday, but if you would have told me on Day One that we would win a Section V championship, with the only thing being that we wouldn’t be able to play in the state qualifier, I would have taken that.”
Williamson will play Class C2 champion Byron-Bergen in the Far West Regional qualifier at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Caledonia-Mumford.
“I’m pretty excited,” Kuhl said. “I didn’t want the season to end. I am feeling pretty confident right now, so I want to keep using that confidence.”
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