Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove head coach Brett Johnson, far right, guided the Golden Cougars to a Section VI Class B title this year. Photo courtesy of Steve Garvey

Three Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association girls soccer coaches won Section VI titles this fall.

Only one did it after the makeup of his team wasn’t finalized until the middle of August.

On Aug. 8, just over three weeks prior to the start of practice, Section VI finalized an emergency merger that saw Falconer/Cassadaga Valley add Maple Grove to its girls soccer team.

Sure, the Golden Cougars added five talented girls to their squad in pursuit of a Class B championship.

But that isn’t always as easy as it sounds.

Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove head coach Brett Johnson probably had a pretty good idea who his 11 starters would be when practice kicked off Aug. 26.

When Red Dragons senior Alex Caldwell, juniors Madilyn Seastrum and Gracie Chimera, and sophomores Kylie Kress and Lily McPherson were added into the mix, it could’ve thrown a wrench in Johnson’s plans.

But he took it all in stride.

The Golden Cougars won their first two games of the season by an aggregate 12-1 score before dropping two straight to eventual CCAA D3 champion Frewsburg and D1 champion Allegany-Limestone.

Undeterred, Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove rattled off seven straight wins, starting with a 2-1 victory over rival Southwestern. The Golden Cougars beat Allegany-Limestone 1-0 in the midst of the streak to split their regular-season series with the Gators.

A loss in their second matchup with Southwestern would eventually take away any shot at sharing a league title with Allegany-Limestone, but the Golden Cougars finished the regular season with four more victories to end 13-3-0 overall.

Armed with the No. 2 seed for the Section VI Class B postseason, Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove opened with an easy 10-0 win over No. 15 Pine Valley/Gowanda and followed that up with a 3-1 win over No. 10 East Aurora.

In the semifinals, Julianna Roth scored a first-half goal from Giada Schauman that stood up as the winner, sending the Golden Cougars into the sectional final.

At Hamburg High School, Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove would meet none other than No. 1 Allegany-Limestone, which the Golden Cougars split with during the regular season.

The Gators took a 1-0 lead early in the first half, but Mary Lundmark answered from Kress to tie the game. In the second half, Kress scored from Roth and Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove claimed Falconer’s first sectional title since 2014, Maple Grove’s first since 2018 and Cassadaga Valley’s first ever.

The Golden Cougars’ season came to an end six days later with a 2-1 loss to Hornell in the Far West Regional at Williamsville North High School.

Roth (19 goals, 10 assists), Kress (24 goals, 12 assists) and senior defender Natalie Dossey (2 goals, 2 assists) were named CCAA D1 First-Team all-stars; Seastrum (2 goals, 1 assist), Lundmark (11 goals, 4 assists) and sophomore goalkeeper Ellyson Baglia (95 saves, 17 goals against) were named Second-Team all-stars; and Caldwell (4 goals, 8 assists), Schauman (1 assist) and freshman Sydnee Snow (3 goals, 7 assists) were received league honorable-mention status.

For bringing together girls from three different schools and guiding them to a Class B sectional title, Johnson is the 2024 Post-Journal/OBSERVER Girls Soccer Coach of the Year.