Pal-Mac Makes Finals With Win Over Gananda
May 23, 2014 - SPORTSFIVE REPORT:
Pal-Mac scored the last three goals to cement their place in the Sectional Championship round with their 11-7 win over Gananda. Senior Ben Reeves scored 3g-2a to lead the Red Raiders. He finished with 17 shots (5 on cage). Only six players took shots for Pal-Mac with Jarrett Duchesneau (1g-2a) and AJ Hems (1g-1a) adding seven each and Stephen Morrell (3g) adding 11. For Gananda the scoring and shooting was much more spread out. Attackman Joe Fisher finished with 2g to lead the Blue Panthers. Defenseman Dylan Joy had another strong game for Gananda with a team leading 10 ground balls and 2 takes.
Overall, the game was plagued with penalties with sixteen penalties between the two teams and four goals scored during man-up and one scored during man-down. The game opened with Reeves scoring an unassisted goal after a dead ball restart. Reeves scored all three of his goals from dead ball restarts. Two minutes later Morrell scored the first of his three goals with an unassisted outside shot. The first Blue Panther goal was scored by Joe Fisher after intercepting a pass during a clearing attempt by Pal-Mac. The first quarter ended with Pal-Mac leading 2-1.
In the second quarter, Pal-Mac scored the first goal of the quarter while man-down. Reeves took the ball up the field and found Brian Burger open for the fast-break goal. Gananda scored the next two goals to tie the game at 3-3. Riley Palmer scored with an outside shot with 7:07 remaining with their first man-up goal of the game. Six seconds later Collin Brillian assisted Fisher for the game tying goal. Pal-Mac scored the final two goals of the opening quarter to re-take their two goal lead going into halftime. Morrell and Reeves both scored unassisted goals with an outside shot and a dead ball drive. Pal-Mac led 5-3 going into halftime.
In the third quarter, Gananda scored the opening goal before Pal-Mac scored three unanswered goals to take an 8-4 lead. Zach Binggeli assisted Cruz Mayberry for the Blue Panthers before Tyler Hurlbutt scored with an inside feed from Reeves less than a minute later. The Red Raiders then added a man-up goal from Hems to Morrell with 7:22 remaining in the quarter. Their third goal was scored on a fast-break with Duchesneau assisting Hems. The Blue Panthers scored the final goal of the quarter with a man-up goal by Brillian. Pal-Mac led 8-5 after three quarters.
Gananda came out strong in the fourth quarter, scoring the first two goals and making it a one goal game with 7:34 remaining. Kyle Lombardozzi scored a man-up goal with an assist from Cruz Mayberry. It was followed by an unassisted goal from Binggeli to bring the game to within one. Pal-Mac finished out the scoring with goals from Reeves, Duchesneau and Burger.
In the cage for Pal-Mac, Jack DeMeyers finished with six saves. Attackman Tyler Hurlbutt finished with nine ground balls to lead his team with Reeves adding an additional seven. For the Blue Panthers, Marty LaFica finished at 52% with 12 recorded saves. Adding to Joy's ground ball count was face-off midfielder Remmy Glod with seven. Glod also finished at 67% for the face off draw.
Before the start of the game, Pal-Mac Head Coach, Joe Hill presented a check for $800 to Penn Yan Head Coach Brian Hobart to be matched by the Yates County Emergency fund to help folks hurt by floods last week. The funds were raised by lacrosse fans at the Pal-Mac quarter finals game earlier in the week.
Pal-Mac returns on Tuesday to play the defending Class C Champion Penn Yan Mustangs at Schroeder at 5:15.
