Cold Spring Harbor girls soccer wins LI championship behind Jaida Luparello's goal, Charlotte Madigan's save on penalty kick

Sometimes the best plays are the ones you aren’t even trying to make.

When Jaida Luparello brought her leg back to fire a kick, she was looking to send a cross to the middle to create a scoring chance for a teammate. She did one better, though, and once the ball left her foot, she realized exactly what she had done.

Luparello’s cross attempt, which she sent from outside the 18-yard box on the left side of the field, was carried by the wind toward the net. It resulted in a perfectly placed ball toward the top of the net for the game’s only goal as Cold Spring Harbor defeated Babylon, 1-0, in the Long Island Class B girls soccer championship/Southeast Regional final at Farmingdale State on Sunday afternoon.

“I was thinking more of a cross, but the wind was in our favor, so it went in the right direction,” Luparello said. “But the second I kicked it and saw it leave my foot and I saw it curling, I didn’t know if she was going to save it or not, but I definitely saw it going to the goal.”

The goal, which came off an assist from Ruby Spielberger with 8:17 left in the first half, delivered Cold Spring Harbor’s first Long Island championship since 2012.

The Seahawks (10-2-5) will play Hornell in the state Class B semifinals at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday at Cortland High School.

Babylon (8-7-1) created opportunities to tie the score, including a penalty kick early in the second half. After a week of practicing penalty kicks in case the score was tied after overtime, Cold Spring Harbor goalkeeper Charlotte Madigan was called upon to test her penalty kick-saving skills in regulation.

The sophomore read the kick, dived to her left and saved the shot. The ball then rolled out of bounds as her teammates swarmed in celebration.

“I was very nervous and I can’t believe I saved it,” Madigan said. “I just got really excited. I just had to react and I had to figure out where she was [going] on the spot.”

Madigan said she read the shooter’s foot and hips before deciding where to dive but still wasn’t certain she’d stop it.

“To be honest, I didn’t really know,” she said. “I’m just really happy I got it.”

“She’s such a safety blanket for us back there,” Cold Spring Harbor coach Ryan Towers said. “It was a huge save. Massive. Not many people can say they saved a penalty kick in the Long Island championship.”

Cold Spring Harbor has won 13 state championships but none since 2000.

This year’s core has dreamed of being the group to change that for as long as they can remember.

“We’ve been playing together since we were 7 years old, so it’s always been a goal of ours to get to a state championship together,” senior Megan Jasinski said. “That was our main goal all season and we just believed in ourselves.”

“To be crowned Long Island champions is really special,” Towers said. “It’s hard, it doesn’t happen a lot, but we thought we had the group to do it this year.”