As the Pine Bush Bushmen rebuilt their soccer program over the past four years, the Monroe-Woodbury Crusaders have been the measuring stick.

Then last Wednesday, the Bushmen finally measured up as Ava Boffalo’s second-half goal lifted the No.2 Bushmen to a 1-0 win over the top-seeded Monroe-Woodbury crusaders at Wallkill Senior High School.
Boffalo, a junior, who has been on the varsity for four years, could only describe the win as “surreal.”

“It’s my fourth year – I have one more – and we’ve been trying to get this win for so long,” Boffalo said. “It’s just so great.”

The game was an 80-minute defensive battle, but Boffalo provided the game’s only successful offense with about 24 minutes to go in the game.

“I just had a great pass to me,” Boffalo said. “I looked at the goal, and was like, ‘I need to shoot. This is my chance.’ And then I did it.”

Earlier in the game, Boffalo banged a shot off the crossbar. This one banged off the crossbar as well, but the bounce was more favorable as her shot hit the bottom of the crossbar and went into the goal.

“The first one – when she hit the crossbar, it was just one of those like, ‘is that our luck?’” Pine Bush coach Dan Conley said. “We had that a few times the first time. She made a couple of saves, some got past her, and she cleared them off the line. We just couldn’t get in the net. But you see that one hit first and it comes down, the release was amazing.”

Boffalo’s goal was the first time the Bushmen had even scored on the Crusaders. In two prior meetings in Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association play, the Bushmen suffered a pair of 2-0 losses to the Crusaders.

They also were beaten by the Crusaders 2-0 in last year’s Section 9 Class AAA championship game, igniting Monroe-Woodbury’s run to the state championship.

But even though the Bushmen scored, that didn’t mean the Crusaders were going to go away.
The Bushmen still had 24 minutes of defense to play, and goalkeeper Shea Toback and the rest of her defense were up to the challenge.

“They did amazing,” Boffalo said. “We couldn’t win without the team. It’s all about the team. I’m just so happy I got to play with them and win with them.”

Last year’s section final appearance was the Bushmen’s first time in the game since 2005. Now, they’ve been there twice in a row, and have a title to show for it.

It’s a title that’s been four years in the making.

“Losing last year, left a bad taste with a lot of them,” Conley said. “We were on the wrong end of this game last year and that drove them this year.”

It drove the Bushmen back to Wallkill High School on Saturday night for a meeting with Section 1 champion Arlington. The Admirals defeated Section 4 champion Ithaca before the Bushmen took the field against the Crusaders.

However, the Bushmen’s season ended with a 4-0 loss to the Admirals in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class AAA regional finals.