Fairport Advances to Class A Finals
May 24, 2019 - Top seeded Fairport came out and strong and finished even stronger in their 11-6 win over fifth seeded Penfield. The Red Raiders came into tonight's contest looking for revenge from last season's 9-8 loss in the Championship matchup. The Patriots led that game for nearly the entire contest and held off a late advance by the Red Raiders. Tonight, the game was the opposite with Fairport taking control and the Patriots looking for the comeback.
Fairport scored the first three goals of the game with patient, but forceful, offense. The Red Raider's opener was scored by Kole Herren with a single player dodge down the middle. He came down the center and beat three defenders to put it into the back of the net. A short time later, Alex Nicastro scored his first goal of the game with a hard drive along the right GLE. He beat his man and finished past the goalie. The third Fairport goal was scored with another single dodge to the cage, this time by Gavin Ingalls. With time winding down, Penfield scored off the faceoff with Max Hoadley grabbing the ball off the draw and feeding up to Michael Mitchell close to the cage. Fairport led 3-1 after 12 minutes.
In the second quarter, the Red Raiders kept up the pressure and held the Patriots to only the fast-break goal. Kody Gould scored off a high bounce into the upper corner followed by Herren scoring off a feed from behind the cage by Nicastro. The third goal was scored by Connor Ruscio unassisted. Fairport increased their lead to 6-1 at the half. In the third quarter, Penfield pushed for a comeback. They outscored Fairport 4-1 in the third quarter. The Patriots opened up the quarter with a fast-break goal from Sam Cummings off a feed from Jacob Emmick. Jack Schlifke then scored off a single drive to cage before Cummings scored their second with a feed from Mitchell. The lone Fairport goal was scored by Nicastro unassisted. Penfield added one more with a back to front feed from behind the cage from Emmick to Mitchell. Penfield cut the Red Raider lead to 2 (7-5).
In the final quarter, Fairport reinstituted their dominance with four more goals while holding Penfield to only one. Ingalls and Colin Peers scored unassisted for the Red Raiders to pull ahead by four. The Patriot's lone goal was scored by Mitchell with a drive down the middle. He beat a double team and the third slide before finishing into the back of the net. Fairport finished up the game with two more. A face-off fast-break and open net goal by Stuver. Fairport moves on to face third seeded Hilton in the Class A Finals on Tuesday.
