Sunday - Valley takes The Island in OT

July 29, 2007 - On hearing the story of the post game celebration with parents and fans swarming the field, surrounding the athletes as they jumped up and down, hugging and jumping into a large pile in celebration of their overtime victory, one would think that the description was of Long Island after finishing their final game of the 2007 Empire State Games winning the gold medal for the 14th time, but you would be in error.
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Hudson Valley, in a game that was only for pride, defeated previously undefeated gold medal winner Long Island, in overtime, 10-9. Hudson Valley fought back from a 3-0 deficit to a 9-7 lead and eventually to the overtime-sudden victory goal by Scott Morell with 0:55 remaining in the first overtime. Long Island won the gold medal after defeating Central on Saturday.

The first quarter saw seven goals between the two teams. Long Island scored the first three with two goals from Francis McDonough and one from Sean Rogers. Hudson Valley’s first goal came from Rocky Bonitatibus on a low bounce shot from a sweep from left to right. One minute later Long Island scored their fourth when Matthew Cannone ran straight in and shot off-stick hip. Scott Morell and Bonitatibus scored the next two goals for Hudson Valley and brought their team to within one at the start of the second quarter.
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Six more goals were scored before the half with Long Island and Hudson Valley alternating the scoring. Brian Smalley starting the scoring, followed by Bontatibus who scored his third. After Jeff Cohen scored his first, John Froat (assisted by James Garry) was there to bring the game back to one again. Anthony Biscardi’s goal assisted by Palasek was a cross-crease pass, while Joe Marasco’s was a drive from behind where he was pushed into the crease and scored while falling. After two quarters Hudson Valley still were fighting strong and not giving up.

The third quarter was all Hudson Valley as they scored both the tying goal and then the go ahead goal. Marasco scored the tying goal on a fast-break while Kevin Gordon scored the first of his two in a row with an assist from Scott Morell. With the third quarter coming to a close, Hudson Valley had taken a one-goal lead going into the last 11 minutes.
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Gordon scored his second 0:55 into the quarter. Connor English scored from a pass by Brian Smalley and Jeff Cohen (from Matthew Gibson) scored with 4:29 left for the tie at 9-9. The game continued scoreless until regulation expired. With 0:02 left on the clock Hudson Valley’s Tyler Granelli received the ball on the crease and got off a point blank shot on Long Island goalie John Carroll, who came across the cage for an amazing high to low save. Carroll finished the game with 5 save and 4 goals against (56%).

Hudson Valley won the face-off in overtime and took the ball down to their offensive end. They took two shots wide of the net, but they were backed up. On the third missed shot Long Island gained possession of the ball (out of bounds). Long Island cleared the ball, but Chris Coppolecchia intercepted the ball and ran back up the field to give Hudson Valley one more chance, and it was all that they would need. Tyler Granelli fed the ball from behind the cage to Morell who scored the sudden victory goal to start “the Valley” celebration. Carroll fell to the ground and was consoled by his teammates after this heartbreaking loss.

Both team played exceptionally well and the game was a fine way to end the tournament, with a reminder that they games are about the play and the game and not so much about the medals.

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