New York State’s all time leading scorer Chloe DeLyser did what she does best, firing home a pair of goals to lead the Knights to a 4-0 win over the Section VI champion Bears in Class C Far West Regional girls soccer action.

Despite the lopsided score, there is no doubt that underdog Frewsburg did its best against DeLyser and company.

“They’ve got some really good players over there, so credit to Marion,” said Frewsburg head coach Scott Stone.

“I know the score says it is 4-0 but I do not feel like we got dominated whatsoever. I thought we played with them, had a couple of chances and it just didn’t work out in our favor today.”

Frewsburg's Kendal Sohl protects the ball while pressured by a Marion opponent.

The Bears entered the day with a gameplan that was no doubt similar to many of Marion’s opponents–make life as hard as possible for DeLyser.

For the majority of the afternoon that task fell to Frewsburg’s Jacey Cappa, who would shadow the senior star with tight coverage and hard-nosed defense.

Frewsburg learned quickly that even small mistakes can have large consequences against the Knights’ offense, with the first example coming just three minutes into the game.

With a cross that was cleared up to the back line of the Bears’ defense, DeLyser pressured her way through a pair of opponents to win a fast-break ball that was tucked past goaltender Madison Voty for the early lead.

It was a mistake few players would be able to exploit for a goal.

Frewsburg's Raena Bird cuts away from Marion's Brooke Guerin.

“We went and saw Chloe play on Tuesday so we knew exactly what we were going to get,” said Stone.

“She is a special, one-of-a-kind player. We wanted to make her job extremely tough today and I thought my team did a great job, especially Jacey Cappa who had the job of following her around the field all day. I think we frustrated her, but for a girl with her skill set it is only a matter of time before she strikes.”

Frewsburg was not disheartened by the early goal, as Alexandra Hultberg responded by feeding a pass up to striker Samantha Annis for a long shot on goaltender Jenna Crego.

Fifteen minutes into the opener, Marion would fight its way to a pair of free kicks, with DeLyser firing the first one wide from 40-yards out.

Moments later Abigail Marotta would line up another kick from the same distance on the left side. The eighth-grader stung that shot right on net with enough pace to sneak through the hands of Voty to make it 2-0.

While the Knights would continue their offensive pressure through the first half, Frewsburg was able to counter-punch at times, with Annis ripping another deep shot on net with ten minutes left to play.

In their best chance of the day, Frewsburg’s Ashlyn Samuelson beat her defender with time winding down, firing away on a shot that was blocked at the last second by another Marion defender.

DeLyser would pick up her second of the day with 26:29 remaining in the game, taking a pass from Marotta on the right side and fighting for space before letting a low shot go that bent its way past the save attempt by Voty.

After Emma Edwards struck a shot on net for the Bears, Marion would earn its fourth and final goal of the afternoon with nine minutes left to play.

That final tally came when Marotta struck an outside shot that was turned away by Voty, but Alaina Taylor was waiting right on the doorstep for a tap-in rebound.

“My team knows exactly how proud of them I am to get to this point. They have done everything I’ve ever asked of them to do,” said Stone.

“We came in with a gameplan and I thought that they executed it great. It obviously didn’t go in our favor, and as a coach I’ll take a little bit of the blame for that, I implemented the gameplan.”

After reaching their first ever Far West Regional and finishing the year at 15-5-1, the Bears will lose only Rachel Annis, Amanda Dilts and Edwards to graduation. The remaining Frewsburg core will return to the pitch next season with even greater goals in mind.

“We played three freshman today, we’re only losing three seniors, so I looked at the girls like ‘get used to this’. We want to come back here, enjoy the experience, and hopefully we’ll be back here for the next year or two,” said Stone.

“We’re glad that we came up here and got the big-game experience. We’re going to get back to work, we’re going to remember this experience, and a year from now we plan on being on this same field again and hopefully advancing to the state championship.”