Battling against heavy defensive pressure for the better part of 80 minutes, Allison Lundmark made the most of her final opportunity with the five minutes remaining.

Finding some space near the left side of the 18-yard box, Lundmark let a shot go that curled in over the outstretched hands of keeper Grace Lundmark, igniting the Trojans bench. A few minutes more of careful defensive work, and Southwestern punched its ticket to play No. 2 Wilson, a 3-1 winner over Eden, at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

“This is only the third time in our school’s history we’ve played in a sectional final,” Southwestern head coach Derek Houser said. “I think the first time since 2003. I think we have four players on the team alive the last time we played in one of these matches, so it’s big for the program.”

After a day of striving against shadowed defenders and unconverted free kicks, it was perhaps fitting that Lundmark would earn Southwestern’s decisive goal. Moments before notching the game winner, the senior would come close once again after a day of narrow misses, heading a corner kick just wide of the net. In the seventh and 25th minutes of the second half, Lundmark looked to give Southwestern the lead back with free kicks in scoring range, but both of those shots would miss the mark high.

OBSERVER Photo by Jay Young Southwestern’s Allison Lundmark takes a free kick.

With two minutes left to play in the opening half, Lundmark was designated for another free kick, with that try falling wide.

“If you are going to win championships your big players have to be big in those big moments and she absolutely was for us today,” Houser said. “I don’t think I’ve had a bigger competitor on any of the teams I’ve coached than Allison Lundmark. You just start to feel, if she is going to get that many opportunities it’s not a matter of if, it’s when.”

That the senior star was held scoreless until the final five minutes is a testament to the play of Falconer/Cassadaga Valley’s Sarah Meder.

In addition to her excellent defensive play against Lundmark, Meder would also play an important role in pushing the Golden Cougars’ offense off of the back line and over midfield.

“We’re going to miss her,” coach Brett Johnson said of the senior. “She is one of those players who gives 125 percent in practice. She can play the whole game. She is going to do whatever she can to go out and win. I knew that I could trust her to be the one to mark Allison.”

Joining Meder in Falconer/Cassadaga Valley’s strong defensive performance was fellow senior Courtnee Peterson, with the pair helping to stifle Southwestern’s offense for much of the morning apart from an early lapse.

The Trojans would get on the board in the sixth minute, with Ellie Lawton swinging home on a volley that was sent into the 18-yard box on a big throw by Lundmark.

Picking that ball out of the air on a hop, Lawton was able to give Southwestern a 1-0 lead with a finish just inside the left post.

“Ellie Lawton is one of those players — you may look at the stats and think ‘OK they are there’ — but we can’t do what we do without her,” Houser said. “She just is in the right place. She is always working. It was just a really nice play, especially early in the match to help us set the tone.”

Committed to its defense early, Falconer/Cassadaga Valley would have limited offensive chances in the opening half as Southwestern looked to up its lead on back-to-back corners by Cora Casselman.

Grace Lundmark would pick off the first corner and the second would roll through the 6-yard box with no bodies in sight while Casselman added another chance on a header midway through the period.

After earning one of the better offensive chances for the Golden Cougars on an outside shot in the final minute of the first half, Tess Spangenburg was able to give the visitors a much-needed boost just after halftime. Pulling up from 25 yards out, Spangenburg hit a clean strike to the top left corner that could not be reached by keeper Reece Beaver.

“Looking at stats at the end of the season we were the team that gave up the most goals out of our league, so kind of what we really wanted to hammer home was focus on your defense first and then offense will come,” Johnson said. “We just wanted to focus on defense and keeping it tight in the middle, push everything outside, and then the offense will come.”

That tally would help swing momentum back toward Falconer/Cassadaga Valley, which followed up with shots from Grace Elder, Kayla Lynn and another try by Abigail Sweeney that was sent just wide off a rebound.

In the end, the Golden Cougars were left wanting on the scoreboard despite their well-played defensive scheme.

For Southwestern, the win comes as a sign of resilience during a season of adversity.

“A lot of respect to Falconer/Cassadaga Valley,” Houser said. “That was one heck of a match and that is what soccer in the playoffs should be. They took us to our limit but our girls stepped up. We’ve had to deal with a lot. We’ve had a couple different issues with players being quarantined, we got a couple back today but it was their first day back. We have a defender go down in the second half. Every time they need to respond this season they have. I just couldn’t be more proud of the effort they put in.”