By PAUL GOTHAM
RIGA, N.Y. — Denied the chance at an earlier goal, Chris Keller made sure to take advantage when he had a second opportunity.
Keller converted on a corner kick opportunity with 2:41 remaining in the second overtime to lift host Churchville-Chili (11-0-1) to a 1-nil win over Spencerport (8-4-1), Wednesday night.
“I’ve always been taught when you see a ball go back post, you run in because it’s either going to get headed across or at the goal, and you’re going to get something,” the senior midfielder said. “That’s just what happened. I got out on the end of it.”
Trevor Caldwell played a service from the right corner flag into the 18-yard box to start the game-winning play. Ryan Vujanovic won the ball in the air, and Keller took it off the bounce and scored his eighth goal of the season.
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“That definitely felt good,” Keller said. “Any time you score it feels good.”
The win was the second this season for C-C over its rival, both by counts of 1-nil.
“It’s always like this, Spencerport and Churchville-Chili,” said Saints head coach John Mahoney. “They were direct. They were dangerous and they made us uncomfortable for a lot of plays tonight.”
An end-to-end battle in which neither backline relented many quality scoring opportunities, Keller looked to strike from distance early in the second half.
Spencerport’s Antonio Marsocci was up to the challenge with a diving stop.
“I got to give credit to him,” Keller said. “I don’t know how he saved that one. We were all talking about that one. That was an incredible save. That was really good. I thought it was going in.”
Teammate Bryce Wolf played a ball back to Keller who, with the Spencerport defense sagging in the box, found space 30 yards from the goal. He took a pair of quick touches before unleashing a blast that looked destined for the near side-netting. That is until Marsocci got enough of a hand on it to deflect it out-of-bounds.
“I thought it was going in,” said Spencerport head coach Jody Wyant. “He made a great save.”
It was one five stops Marsocci made in the second half.
“Everyone takes him lightly because he doesn’t have the height,” Wyant said. “He covers his angles, and he does a good job. He made a couple of quick saves, big reactionary saves on the ground. He’s a good guy. He’s got a huge heart.”
It looked, again, like Churchville had a goal when Eli Klewicki drove a ball on frame from the right wing. Marsocci was there for the stop and then somehow kept Wolf’s attempt on the rebound out of the goal.
“He’s a very good goalie,” said Mahoney. “I said that to him after the game. Both of our goalies had big saves there. He had to make more big saves.”
Spencerport ended Churchville’s season last year on PKs in the Class AA semifinals. That Saints team did not allow a goal in the postseason and yet came away empty-handed.
Mahoney credited his team’s big-game experience for Wednesday’s win.
“It’s the quality of the seniors that we have on this pitch,” he said referring to the seven student-athletes who were part of the 2023 sectional champion team. “They seem pretty calm. They don’t get fazed.”
Churchville keeper Mason Simmons registered his ninth shutout of the season. The Saints (ranked No. 7 NYSSAW Class AA) have outscored opponents by a combined total of 43-3 this season.
Churchville hosts Brighton on Friday for a 7 p.m. start.
Spencerport welcomes Gates Chili for a 6:45 p.m. kickoff on Friday.
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