Saturday: It will be Canandaigua and Penfield
May 22, 2004 - Canandaigua took a 6-2 halftime lead and beat Fairport 10-4 in the first game of the semifinals. In the second game, however, Penfield needed an overtime goal by junior middie, Mike Thon to beat Irondequoit, 10-9 and advance to the finals.
The seeding worked out, but it took overtime for Penfield (#2) to beat Irondequoit (#3) as junior middie, Mike Thon scored on a feed from sophomore middie, Kelly McKenna just 56 seconds into overtime.
Irondequoit scored first at the 11:22 mark when Cory Bottiglier scored an unassisted goal. Penfield came back with goals by Dennis Bell (assisted by Ryan O'Donnell) and Tim Pfeffer (unassisted) and the quarter ended with Penfield up 2-1.
The Patriots scored two more in the second while holding the Eagles scoreless. Sophomore middie, Kelly McKenna scored, unassisted at 10:39 and Pfeffer scored unassisted at 6:09.
The half ended with Penfield up 4-1.
Irondequoit came out of halftime with renewed energy and scored three goals before Penfield scored their only goal (McKenna from AJ Civalier) at 0:35. Irondequoit's goals came from Zack Pixley, Jon Timkey and Bottiglier from Timkey in man up. At the end of three it was Penfield up 5-4.
The last quarter started with a tying goal by Sean Doyle (from Timkey) at 10:37. Penfield returned on the next faceoff with an unassisted goal by Pfeffer. Pfeffer scored again at 8:26 and Irondequoit came back 20 seconds later with a goal by Timkey. Both defensive teams played strong on-on-one defense. Irondequoit's John Hanss had numerous take aways and some key clears for the Eagles. Penfield's Dan Clay and Luke Prattico also led their defensive unit with strong one-on-on play and excellent clearing.
Civalier scored for Penfield at 6:44 and Doyle returned at 6:23 for the Eagles. Bottiglier scored for Irondequoit in man up tying the game at 8 each. McKenna gave the Patriots the lead at 3:25 when he intercepted a clearing pass and scored on a one-on-one with Eagles' goalie, Bill Buttaro. Then at the 1:47 mark, Bottiglier scored an unassisted goal to send the game into overtime. Both goalies, Buttaro for Irondequoit and Brian Dell for Penfield made dramatic key saves.
It took only 56 seconds in overtime for junior middie, Mike Thon to score on a feed from Kelly McKenna and send the Patriots to the Class A finals where they will meet Canandaigua (Wednesday, 7:30 PM at St. John Fisher.)
In the first Class A semifinal game Canandaigua (#1) preserved it's undefeated season with a 10-4 victory over Fairport (#5). The balanced offense and stingy defense limited the number of opportunities for the Red Raiders. Fairport scored first as sophomore attackman, Pat Reilly scored the first of his three in a row at 7:11. Canandaigua scored the next four goals in the quarter and led at the end of the first quarter 4-1. Junior Middie, Dan Groot scored the first, followed by Chad Buck (from Chris Mulheron). Aaron Manzer scored on a feed from Steve Smith and just six seconds later, Mike Pane scored for CA..
The second quarter started with Fairport scoring, again by Reilly, but again it would be the only Red Raider goal of the quarter. The Braves saw goals by Mulheron who caught the ball when it bounced from a Fairport goalie save, and Manzer from Groot with 6 seconds left in the half. At the break it was CA up 6-2.
After a great deal of transition in the third, Canandaigua scored at 3:15 (Pane from Groot). Reilly scored again for Fairport at 1:37 and Smith came back for the Braves with an assist by Mulheron at 0:13.
Smith scored again in the last quarter followed by Fairport's Nik Bryan (unassisted). The last goal was scored by CA's Manzer (from Groot) at the 3:00 mark. Canandaigua will play from the championship on Wednesday, when they play against Penfield (7:30 PM at St. John Fisher).
