Wednesday: NYS Semi Finals: Victory for Victor - Still Undefeated
June 3, 2015 -
Victor maintained their perfect season, the only one in the State at this point, with one game to go. . . the NYS Championship in Vestal on Saturday. A rematch of last year`s match up, the Blue Devils played a close but deliberate game and with T.D. Ierlan grabbing 86 percent of the face offs, and Ryan Maloney added a lead leading 3g-2a, Victor won game number twenty-one. The other two games went to West Genesee who overcame a long Pittsford lead to defeat the Panthers 8-7 and Penn Yan who lost to a superior Cazenovia, 9-5.
The NYS brackets are available on the NYSPHSAA web site: Class A - Class B - Class C.
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Cazenovia 9 - Penn Yan 5 |
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-- SPORTSFIVE REPORT: Cazenovia scored four of the first five goals to take a strong lead into their State Semi-Final match against Penn Yan. The Lakers defeated the Mustangs 9-5 and will move on to play Cold Spring Harbor this Saturday at Vestal High School. Cazenovia played a more consistent game. They showed their skill with second and third attempts at the ball. On a number of plays they lost the initial ground ball and then came at the ball even stronger to re-take possession on the second or third attempt. This held true with most statistics including face-offs, shots, and clears. Although multiple Lakers had strong games, there were stand out performances from face off midfielder Peter Burr, attackman PJ Brown and goalie Brenden Whalen. Burr, Brown and Whalen exemplified the type of play that we all hope to see.
Burr finished the game under 50%, but won a number of key face offs for the Lakers. He led his team in ground balls with six and scored 1g. Whalen finished with 10 saves (67%) including a number of point blank saves that he had no business stopping. He cleared with efficiency and was a staple for the Laker defense. Attackman PJ Brown finished with a team leading 3g-1a off of nine shots for Cazenovia.
The Lakers came out swinging and scored back to back goals to open the contest. Brown started off with a drive along the right side of GLE and put the shot over goalie Gage Ponsetti's shoulder. Ponsetti finished with six saves for the Mustangs. He had difficulty in the opening half with five goals scored before his second save. Three minutes later Jake Stowell scored his first goal with an outside shot from the right flat. Stowell finished with 2g-1a for the Lakers. Penn Yan scored their first goal with 0:39 remaining in the first quarter with an inside feed by Austin Fingar to Craig Gerhardt. Fingar finished with 2a and 10 ground balls. He took the face offs for Penn Yan and finished at 53%. Whalen seemed to have Fingar's number: He took 5 shots (the most of his team) with 4 on cage that were all saved by Whalen. Cazenovia led 2-1 after the first quarter.
They continued their pressure in the second quarter outscoring the Mustangs 4-2. Caz scored the opening two goals again in the second quarter with an outside shot from Stowell. Less than one minute later Stowell assisted Brown for his second goal. The Mustangs started a brief comeback with a dramatic goal from their keeper, Ponsetti who took the ball all the way from a save to the opposite goal. The Mustangs had difficulty throughout the contest with the ten men press from Cazenovia. 
On the ensuing face off Fingar won the draw clean and took it up Sean Emerson. Emerson dodged his man and the slide before scoring eight seconds after Ponsetti's goal. Burr stopped the momentum on the next draw winning that face off clean and taking it straight to the cage to keep Cazenovia ahead 5-3. The play continued back and forth for the next seven minutes before the Lakers scored the final goal of the quarter with an impressive feed from Brown to attackman Jake Lewis. The Lakers led 6-3 at halftime.
Each team added one goal in the third quarter as Cazenovia began to slow the ball down and Penn Yan attempted to get back in the game. The Lakers were called to keep it in repeatedly in the third and fourth quarters and reduced their shooting attempts. The Mustangs scored the first goal with Tate Stewart scoring from a feed from behind by Emerson. Two minutes later Cole Willard scored his lone goal on a fast break down the right side. The Lakers held the three goal lead 7-4 after 36 minutes.
The Mustangs scored the first goal during a man-up with an outside shot by Emerson from Fingar at 9:22. It was the last goal that Penn Yan scored. Cazenovia added two more goals in the final five minutes. Brown and Lewis both scored unassisted goals to finish out the contest.
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West Genesee 8 - Pittsford 7 |
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-- SPORTSFIVE REPORT: West Genesee scored five unanswered goals spanning the second through fourth quarters to defeat Pittsford 8-7. The Wildcats will face Niskayuna in the State Finals at Vestal on Saturday. The game came down to consistent offense versus high powered unsettled play. The Panthers were much more flexible and willing to find openings in whatever they were presented. The Wildcats played strong consistent offensive for four quarters and slowly chipped away at an early Pittsford lead.
West Genesee had stand out performances from face off midfielder David Procopio (70% at draw), attackman Mike Fletcher (3g) and goalie Nick O'Neil. O`Neil finished with 10 saves (59%) and held the Panthers scoreless for over 24 minutes. The Panthers had strong performances from goalie Kevin Maguire, midfielder James Felix and defenseman Jared Connors. Maguire finished with 15 saves at 65% and made a number of impressive saves. Alec Starr played the final two minutes of the contest in an attempt to get the ball back from the Wildcat offense. Connors finished with a team leading 10 ground balls and two takes. Felix finished with 7 shots (4 on cage and 2 goals) for Pittsford. His two goals were two of only three settled goals for Pittsford.
Pittsford used multiple unsettled situations and on the fly substitutions in the first half to take a strong lead. The Panthers scored the first two goals. James Felix subbed onto the field on the fly and immediately got the ball. He drove straight to the cage and scored unassisted with 10:22 remaining in the first quarter. A minute and half later the Panthers scored their first unsettled goal. John Galbraith assisted Jonathan Perotto on a cross-crease fast-break goal for Pittsford. The Wildcats scored the next two goals to tie the game. Both goals came from drives from behind the cage. Nick Cunningham scored the opening goal and Mike Fletcher scored the second goal.
The Panthers kept their pressure going into the final five minutes with three more goals. The first was scored the same way as their opening goal. Felix subbed onto the field and took the ball straight to the goal. The next two goals were back to back fast-break goals for Pittsford. Ryan Fairbrother assisted Jack Kaufman for the first goal and Colby Barker scored unassisted for the second goal. The Panthers led 5-2 after the first quarter.
The next three quarters belonged to the Wildcats. They outscored Pittsford 2-1, 1-0 and 3-1 to take the win. Ryan McDonald scored his lone goal of the contest 0:33 into the second quarter. 
The contest continued to go back and forth before Pittsford scored a fast-break goal during a man-down situation. Kaufman took a running shot at the cage that was stopped by O'Neil. He scooped up his own loose ball and scored on the rebound shot. West Genesee scored their next goal on man-up with Procopio scoring on a feed from Tyler Shoults. Shoults finished with five ground balls to lead the Wildcats. Pittsford held on 6-4 at halftime.
In the third quarter, West Genesee scored the lone goal with their third drive from behind the cage. Fletcher scored his second goal with 1:44 remaining in the quarter. Pittsford held on at 6-5 after three quarters. The Wildcats score the first three goals of the final quarter to take their first lead of the game. Procopio tied the game on a broken clear that began with a knockdown by McDonald and a ground ball by Shoults. The first, and last, lead for the Wildcats came at 6:06 remaining in regulation. Conor Bartlett scored during a fast-break. Their final goal was scored by Fletcher. He scored three goals on three shots for West Genesee. Pittsford attempted the comeback and scored the last goal of the game. Brandon Barker scored his lone goal on his sixth shot of the game, to bring it within a single goal. Barker had the last shot of the contest, but O'Neil stepped up for a big save. The game concluded with West Genesee running out the clock behind the cage.
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Victor 11 - JD 9 |
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-- SPORTSFIVE REPORT: Victor became the lone Section V representative to make it to the State Finals with an 11-9 win over Jamesville-Dewitt. They will go on to play Manhasset on Saturday at Vestal High School in the State Finals. The Blue Devils had a slow start before taking control in the second quarter and holding the lead through the second half. They looked strong though the entire contest and controlled the pacing of the game. Attackman Ryan Maloney finished with 3g-2a to lead Victor. Face off specialist TD Ierlan had another impressive contest finishing 19/22 (86%). He also led his team in ground balls with thirteen.
JD came out of the gates strong and scored the first two goals. Ryan Durkin scored, unassisted, with a sweep across the top. Three minutes later Ryan Archer scored after a cross-crease pass from Casey Platenik during a fast-break goal. Archer was the big scorer for the Red Rams with 3g. Victor kept the game close with back to back goals of their own to end the quarter. Dan Barrow scored the first after coming off the bench and heading straight to the cage. With 0:01 remaining on the clock, Maloney scored his first goal with an assist from Drew Collins (1g-1a). Collins scooped up the ball off the turf after a pipe from Mike DeMarco. The game was tied 2-2 after the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Victor outscored JD 5-3 including a three goal stretch to take their first lead. The Red Rams scored the opening goal with a fast break goal from Benjamin Wipper. The Blue Devils scored the next three to take the lead. DeMarco, Barrow and Alec DeCarlo scored for Victor. DeMarco's was an outside shot, Barrow scored on a garbage goal off the crease and DeCarlo scored off a fast-break cross-crease pass from Max Lambert. The Blue Devils never trailed again.
JD kept the game close with two more goals of their own to tie the score at 5-5. Durkin scored with an outside shot and 0:17 later, Samuel Mueller (a long stick) scored on a face-off fast-break. The Red Rams did not score for the next eight minutes. Victor concluded the quarter with two more goals to take the lead. Barrow scored with an inside feed from Jamie Trimboli and Lambert scored after working the ball from behind the cage. Victor led 7-5 at the half.
The teams alternated goals in the third quarter with Victor scoring the first and last. The first three goals were all unassisted with Maloney (Victor), Archer (JD) and DeMarco (Victor) scoring on one-on-one drives. JD's next goal was an inside feed from Platenik to Archer and 0:07 Maloney scored with a face-off fast-break from Lambert. Victor led 10-7 after three.
The alternating scoring continued into the fourth. JD scored another fast-break goal (Griffin Cook unassisted). The final Blue Devil goal was at 4:59 during a man-up play with Collins scoring (assisted by Maloney). JD kept up the pressure, but could only add one more. Cook scored his second goal with another unassisted run at the cage. Victor held the all for the final minutes and the Red Rams could not get the ball back for another attempt.
In the cage for Victor, Chayse Ierlan finished with five saves. He and attackman Collins added three ground balls each to TD Ierlan's leading thirteen. Trimboli finished with a team leading 7 shots (4 on cage, no goals). Jamesville-Dewitt's Joseph Morgan finished at 50% between the pipes with 11 saves. He also led his team in ground balls with six. Attackman Grayson Burns added another three to the count.
