Cooperstown, the top seed, lost a 3-2 decision to Faith Heritage at Cortland State, completing a surprisingly dominant season by the Redskins at 17-3-1.

``I’m very proud of my boys,’’ said Cooperstown head coach Frank Miosek. ``It was a high intensity game that could have gone either way. They got a couple of breaks on their goals and we didn’t, but that’s the way it goes in soccer sometimes. We have nothing to be ashamed of.’’

The game marked Cooperstown’s first appearance in the section finals since 1992, and came a year after they graduated nine starting seniors to graduation.

Trailing 1-0 at halftime, the Redskins took the lead with two goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half.

Senior Quinn Snyder scored the first, heading in a corner kick from freshman Jake Chase to tie the score just over a minute into the second half.

Chase added the go-ahead goal three minutes later when he chipped a shot over Saints goalie Paul Jackson which rolled along the goal line. Two F-H defenders tried to clear the ball, but collided and knocked the ball in the net.

It didn’t take long for Faith Heritage, 15-2-1, to respond with the tying goal as Andrew Loucy scored from 25 yards out.

``He was trying to cross the ball, but when the shot got up in the air it started to banana toward the goal,’’ Miosek said. ``Somehow it twisted in.’’

Loucy added the game-winner with just over 13 minutes left after a restart.

A long, lofted ball toward the Cooperstown goal resulted in a melee in front, and Loucy managed to get a foot on the ball and slip it past Cooperstown goalkeeper Nick Summers.

The Redskins had multiple chances to score in the final 10 minutes, including a shot which caromed hard off the crossbar and back into play with six minutes left, and another wide open shot from 18 yards out that sailed high.

The Redskins will lose nine starting seniors to graduation. They include forward Chris Gulotta, who led the team with 19 goals this season; midfielders Ryan Huggins, Bob Bauer, Jon Birch and Brock Bell; and defenders Quinn Snyder, John Rathbun, Drew Lierheimer and Luke Tirrell.

Miosek said coaching the team was a pleasure this season.

``If every team was like this one life as a coach would be perfect,’’ he said. ``They were team-oriented, never got down on one another and gave their best effort every time out there.’’

Next year will be similar to this year where we’re going to have to kind of start all over. But by October and November we’ll be very competitive again.’’