Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove poses after defeating Allegany-Limestone 1-0 to retain the Section VI Class B title at Williamsville North High School on Saturday. Photo courtesy of Alex Kolstee

BUFFALO — When Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove junior Kylie Kress last played Allegany-Limestone earlier this season she was kept off the scoresheet and sustained an injury in a 2-0 league loss.

That injury kept her off the field for a couple of weeks and still shows its teeth. However, in her return to the playoffs Kress has not missed a beat and once again she came up in the biggest moment for the Golden Cougars.

Finding space in the box amid some quick passes in the midfield with Julianna Roth and Sydnee Snow, Kress received a one-touch pass from Snow and wasted no time firing home the lone goal in the Section VI Class B championship game against the Gators on Saturday evening at Williamsville North High School in the 36th minute.

After a second year combined as Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove, while facing more bumps in the road, the 3-seeded Golden Cougars managed to defend their title with another narrow decision over No. 5 Allegany-Limestone, 1-0.

“We faced our worst of our struggles this year,” Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove head coach Brett Johnson stated. “We kept coming back, we kept working hard and figuring stuff out in practice. Credit to our girls for working hard every day. It feels amazing for the team that we have and all the talent we’ve been blessed with the last few years. It feels amazing to win back-to-back sectional championships.”

The Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove coaches and captains accept the championship plaque after defeating Allegany-Limestone 1-0 at Williamsville North High School on Saturday. Photo courtesy of Alex Kolstee

Plenty of action went towards the Allegany-Limestone net, whether it was Roth, Kress, Snow or Mary Lundmark. However, it took a good transition with plenty of Golden Cougars involved to set up a perfect passing play to repeat as champions.

“Both of them are very talented players in their own right,” Johnson said about Kress and Roth who have led the team in scoring the past two seasons. “They play a lot of travel soccer together, they have a lot of chemistry, they know where each other are going to be and how each other play. When they’re in sync it’s a lot of fun to watch, they’re tough to guard.”

Prior to the Kress goal, Allegany-Limestone had a couple of near chances from its talisman Kennedy Honeck that were turned aside by goalkeeper Ellyson Baglia.

In the 22nd minute, Honeck fired a perfectly placed shot from an awful angle near the corner, but Baglia tracked it with a fist of fury to keep the Gators off the board. Then about 10 minutes later, Honeck sailed a free kick headed below the bar that was again met with a punch from Baglia which hit the uprights above the net and kept the game level.

“Ellyson has been amazing all year,” Johnson said about his goalkeeper. “All the credit in the world to her. She works hard every day and we wouldn’t be where we are if weren’t for her.”

The Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove girls soccer team holds up their blue patches after repeating as Section VI Class B champions on Saturday at Williamsville North High School. Photo courtesy of Alex Kolstee

Most of the Allegany-Limestone threats were kept to the outside as the Golden Cougars did a great job defensively taking away anything near the net, with the exception of a couple chaotic moments after corner kicks.

“It starts in our ability to play possession,” Johnson said about his team. “That’s what we take pride in, I think we are one of the better teams when it comes to that aspect of the game. Everybody knows their role, we know our strengths and weaknesses. We don’t try and do too much more than what we can.”

The two biggest offensive threats on Allegany-Limestone, Honeck and Kai Wojewoda-Ko, were largely kept to the perimeter and forced to take either hero shots or set up teammates.

“They do a good job throwing some speed at you and mixing things up,” Johnson said about the Allegany-Limestone attack. “That makes it tough on the defense, but we stayed linked up pretty well back there. They communicated, I mean our defense has been rock solid all season. I’m very confident in them and they did a good job tonight.”

Once again, Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove split the league schedule with Allegany-Limestone and came out on top in the sectional final. However, next week the Golden Cougars will look to flip the script in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Far West Regionals in Geneseo when they play the eventual Section V champion.

“It’s good having that experience going back to such a big game,” Johnson said about returning to regionals. “It’s tough going over to Section V, you don’t see too much of that, but they play some really good soccer. We’re expecting a tough game and we’re going to have to make some adjustments and work on some things in practice this week, but we’re really looking forward to it.”

Last year the Golden Cougars fell 2-1 to Hornell in the Far West Regionals, but hope to use that experience to improve this year. Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove will play the winner of Section V Class B1 champion Livonia and B2 champion Williamson at Geneseo High School next Saturday at 4:30 p.m.