The new classification system didn’t change the fact that Monroe-Woodbury continues to stand between the Pine Bush girls’ soccer team and a Section 9 championship.

Monroe-Woodbury’s Kate Allen scored two goals as the Crusaders won the Section 9 AAA championship on Wednesday night with a 2-0 win over the second-seeded Bushmen at Goshen High School.

“We played our hearts out,” Pine Bush coach Dan Conley said. “I just told them you can be disappointed in the result and upset with the loss, but don’t be upset with how you played. We played our butts off. We worked to get to this point, and the ball just didn’t go our way.”

The Bushmen were chasing the top-seeded Crusaders for most of the night, after Allen scored her first goal of the game in the 11th minute after redirecting a cross from Faith Zollo to give the Crusaders a 1-0 lead.

It wasn’t the first time the Bushmen had trailed in the tournament, as they also gave up the game’s first goal in their semifinal win over the Newburgh Free Academy Goldbacks on October 23 at Pine Bush High School.

“The other day Newburgh got one early on us and we were kind of flat,” Conley said. “This one, we had a miscommunication and the ball winds up in the back of the net for them, but we didn’t drop. We kept the level up. We had a chance to score the equalizer before the half.”

The Bushen had two solid opportunities to tie the game.

The best came with about five minutes to go in the first half when Deirdre Meberg drew Monroe-Woodbury goalkeeper Reese Dolan out of the net. Meberg tried to pop the ball over Dolan’s head, but her shot went over the crossbar, causing her to react in frustration.

Katie Cragan also bounced a shot from about 30 yards out off the crossbar, and even though it appeared to bounce back into play, it was ruled a goal kick.

“It just went over the top there,” Conley said. “There was another one that was sitting right around the goal line that a defender knocked away. Katie hit the crossbar on one. We had opportunities that just didn’t go in the back of the net.”

The Bushmen had a last opportunity to tie the game in the 77th minute as Morgan Tubbs sent in a corner kick from the right side. Cragan got a head on it, but Dolan made an acrobatic save to keep the Crusaders ahead.

“Katie made a great run, the ball dropped in, we just didn’t have anybody close enough to finish it,” Donley said. “That’s a great keeper who got on it. Grace (Druke), on the other end, made a couple of great saves to keep it at 1-0.”

However, Allen delivered the kill shot a minute later when Allen scored her second goal.

The Bushmen opened the tournament with a 3-2 win over the Goldbacks. Gianna Conklin, Ava Boffalo and Deirdre Meberg each had a goal. Boffalo also had two assists, and Duke made eight saves.

The Bushmen gave up goals to Newburgh’s Marina Parodo and Demaris Moran.

They finished the season with a 13-2-2 record. Their only two losses have come to the Crusaders.

The Bushmen’s eight seniors – Camryn Brown, Druke, Taylor Hoehmann, Meberg, Alexandra Parr, Tea Rauch, Kileigh Smykla and Tubbs – took a team that only had a few wins four years ago to their first appearance in the Section 9 championship game since 2005.

He estimated this year’s senior class has more career wins than any other senior class in the last 25 years.

“I said, ‘when you guys came up, playing Monroe was an 8-0 or 9-0 game where they’re playing keep away for the last 30 minutes,’” Conley said. “Here we’re trying to get the equalizer in the last four minutes trying to win a championship. They’ve come a long way and set a standard that we’re hoping these (younger) kids will follow.”