CENTRAL NEW YORK – While the quest for a long-awaited Section III championship remains the main point for the East Syracuse Minoa girls soccer team, it has already healed an old psychological wound. Both in 2021 and 2022, ESM went to the Section III Class A championship game. Each time, another group of Spartans from New Hartford denied them the crown, going on to win a state title on the latter of these two occasions. After not meeting in 2023, these two powers would battle in the regular season this time around – and when they did, ESM, at last, got the best of this Spartans duel, claiming it by a score of 2-0. New Hartford, a state final four participant in 2023, had started 4-1 this fall, its lone defeat to Buffalo Sacred Heart in the Hall of Fame Tournament in Niskayuna on Sept. 8 after it which it beat three Tri-Valley League foes by a combined 32-0 margin. All of that offense was shut down against ESM, though, despite constant opportunities. In all, New Hartford took 10 direct shots, and Julianna Orcutt stopped all of them. It helped that, twice in the first half, Leah Rehm, who experienced those sectional finals losses after seasons where she netted a combined 69 goals, broke through and put in goals, each of them off feeds from Bailey Rehm. Yet another big game loomed Thursday when ESM took on defending sectional Class B champion Marcellus, a game that again proved a showcase for Leah Rehm even if the result, a 2–2 draw, gave the Spartans its first blemish of the season. Rehm pounced on a Marcellus turnover in the 13th minute to score and put her team up 1-0. Then, in a spectacular play midway through the half, Rehm, in one motion, flicked a strong cross from Leah Chavoustie past Tenly Baker for her 15th goal of the season. Trailing 2-0, the Mustangs began to rally when a Spartans handball inside the 18-yard box led to a penalty kick that Lexie Fragnito converted. An evenly played second half followed, ESM doing all it could to hang on. But with 2:50 to play, Marcellus again attack, and again the Spartans fouled in a place where the Mustangs were awarded a penalty kick. Fragnito’s second conversion tied it, and it would stay there, the sides deciding not to play overtime. In between these games was a 7-0 romp over Central Square last Wednesday where again Leah Rehm put on a goal-scoring display, finding the net four times. Bailey Rehm put up two more assists as she, along with Kyleigh Smith and Ashley Praxl, earned single tallies. Praxl was joined in the assist colum n by Sophia Brooks, Callie Sweeney and Ayzlei Winans. Jamesville-DeWitt, who faces ESM this Saturday in the “Kara Fund” game at Spartan Stadium, got a big early-season victory of its own last Monday night when it topped Westhill 2-1. Noor Al-Zammar’s first-half matched that of the Warriors’ Lyla Gaines. Then Al-Zammar converted again in the second half to break a 1-1 tie and the Red Rams held on from there. It was close again on Wednesday night, but J-D could only manage a 1-1 draw with Fulton, having to rally late as Madelyn Murphy’s second-half goal, assisted by Llil Santoro, equaled the Red Dragons’ early tally by Mya Carroll. Lindsay Parker blanked Fulton after the first half and had seven saves overall.