In a successful day for Section 1 teams at Lakeland high school, teams from each Class captured victories and advanced to the NYS regional finals.
Bronxville, Suffern and Lakeland will play three consecutive games at Schuylerville high school, roughly 150 miles away in the Albany area on Monday.
The winners will advances to the NYS finals, which will take place next weekend (11/17-11/18 with a snow date of 111/19) at Cicero-North Syracuse, the same site as last year.
Notes from today: In an excellent show of sportsmanship, the Section 1 teams were clearly rooting for one another. On the sidelines, the teams exchanged ‘good luck’ with each other as they went on and off the field. The entire Lakeland team was also able to watch the end of Suffern’s match since it went into overtime.
That’s not to suggest that camaraderie is lacking between the section teams during the season, there’s just simply less. Typically, once a game ends, players/coaches that know each other will chat but each side usually boards the bus. It was a great display and i’m sure it will continue as the playoffs progress.
– This event was extremely well organized and that can’t be overstated. It probably didnt register with some of the athletes and parents, but from my perspective it was excellent considering I have covered some D1 collegiate events that were poorly organized. – Before Thursday’s finals, I picked against Suffern. As I mentioned in my preview, it wasn’t because they struck me as a team with a lot of holes, it just looked like Mamaroneck would stay the course. (The Tigers topped Suffern in the regular season) The opposite happened as Suffern captured the first field hockey section title for a Rockland team and it’s clear now that picking against this team is unwise.Sarah Adler missed her first penalty stroke chance in the first half that would have extended her team’s one goal lead, but buried her second in the second overtime to give the Mounties a 2-1 win.
“The same thing happened in the Mamaroneck game,” Adler said. “My teammate Nora Patwell came over and talked to me. I was confident and I knew that I could do it.”
– Goalie Kaila Cahoon made 14 stops, including several diving attempts that ended with huge collisions.“When I see the ball, I just know that I have to get in front of it,” Cahoon said. “No matter what I do, I have to get in front of that ball. Sometimes I don’t even know what i’m doing and I (make the save).”
“When we go into overtime, it’s stressful, there’s no other word for it,” Cahoon said. “It’s like a second chance and its a second chance to know that we can score.”
– If Kingston was looking to win points in the physicality category, it was successful in that area tonight. Adler was shoved to the ground several times and a Kingston player was yellow carded for repeated physical play.“This season, it’s been pretty clean,” Adler said. “Our coach always tell us not to play to that level.”
- Two of my colleagues covered the Bronxville and Lakeland games. I’ll post those games stories tomorrow.