by Steve Bradley
The number one seeded Lady Panthers soccer team faced the number two seeded Greenville Spartans last Thursday in Lansingburgh for the Class B championship. The Panthers immediately jumped all over the Spartans, scoring three times in the first half, which was more than enough to seal the victory.
On a warm day with a drizzle that eventually turned to rain, Mackenzie Hinchliffe scored the first goal less than ten minutes into the game.
Five minutes later, Dana O’Malley scored, with an assist from Jordyn Haynes. Haynes topped off the scoring, which turned out to be the final score of the afternoon, with six minutes left until halftime.
The second half was scoreless. The final score was 3 – 0.
Class BB Prevails
On Saturday the Ladies returned to Lansingburgh to take on the Schalmont Sabres, a much larger, Class BB, team. The Lady Panthers played their hearts out. To their credit the Panthers kept Schalmont from getting even one score in the books the entire first half. Goalie Hannah Fricke played wonderfully, stopping everything the Sabres tried to get the ball into the goal. Unfortunately, the Panthers were unable to record any scores for themselves.
The Sabres scored four goals in the second half, and the Panthers had no answer. The final score was Schalmont 4, HF 0.
The Panthers lost to a much larger school. The enrollment figure from ninth to eleventh grades are used for class determination. Schalmont has over 600 students in its high school. HF has about 400. That’s a big difference in the amount of potential athletes for each sport, 50 percent more. When a school has a greater number of athletes to chose from, each player from that school will be bigger, faster and more talented from the top of the roster to the bottom. HFCS is one of the smallest Class B teams in New York State, possibly the smallest.
The Ladies have everything to be proud of for their season.