Once again, Section 4 squads flex their muscles in state field hockey tournament
Section 4 representatives once again snatched two of three available state field hockey championships Sunday at Centereach High School in Suffolk County.
Whitney Point made it three successive top finishes in Class C and Vestal went back-to-back in Class B. Windsor fell by an anguishing 3-2 in overtime of its Class A semifinal Saturday against Mamaroneck.
Class C
Keep two final four opponents scoreless? Indeed a formula for state-tournament success.
Whitney Point tied a bow atop another undefeated season with a 2-0 win against Carle Place (Nassau County), with freshman Payton Martin accounting for the winning goal that left the Eagles a 1-0 halftime advantage.
“It was so exciting to win this game,” Martin said. “I think our team is a really great team and we really need that energy, so the first goal of the game really boosted us up and made us continue to want to play. From then on, we just worked together and it was a great game.”
Cassidy Pado provided the second goal.
That victory followed Saturday’s 4-0 win against previously unbeaten Hoosick Falls. Sadee Short scored the first two goals and Anah Huston assisted on the next two.
The Golden Eagles’ most recent three-peat comes after the program chalked up five consecutive state championships beginning in the autumn of 2014.
Class B
Fairly decisive was Vestal’s 4-1 win against Iroquois for the Class B championship to complete an 18-2 season for the Golden Bears.
Meredith Ryan scored with 2½ minutes elapsed and eighth-grader Helene Ryan accounted for the second goal in the waning moments of the first period. It was a 3-0 difference at halftime and Adrienne Mayes from Aubree Wenner made it 4-0.
The semifinal was far more competitive, with Vestal pulling out a 2-1 win over Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake courtesy of Kendall Brady’s goal in the first minute of overtime. Mayes’ penalty stroke in regulation pulled the Bears into a 1-1 tie.
Class A
Windsor held a 2-0 lead against Mamaroneck thanks to goals from Vienna McCombs and Anna Finn – who assisted on the first – but was unable to put away the squad from Westchester County.
The Black Knights closed with a 15-4 record. Mamaroneck went on to a 4-0 win against Orchard Park in the final.
Boys soccer
** Class B: Chenango Forks’ season ended with a 2-0 loss to East Aurora in a Class B semifinal at Goshen. The Blue Devils, Southern Tier Athletic Conference runners-up, played to a 15-4 record.
East Aurora (21-0-1) won the title game, 2-1 over Spackenkill.
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** Class C: Seton Catholic Central’s George Phillips scored to create a 1-1 tie with Elba/Byron Bergen that held through regulation’s close in the semifinal, but the Section 5 champions advanced with superiority in a penalty-kick shootout.
Elba/Byron Bergen fell by 4-1 to Mount Academy in the final.
This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Field hockey three-peat for Whitney Point, two straight for Vestal
