Hoosick Falls (20-2) 1
Whitney Point (17-4) 6
Sunday, November 14. Played at Centereach, NY (Long Island).
After defeating North Salem Saturday in the semi-final game, the Panthers learned their Sunday opponent for the Finals would be Whitney Point, a Section 4 team located about 15 miles north of Binghamton.
Hoosick Falls entered the game on a 17 game winning streak, losing only a 3-1 match against Scotia, a much larger school. Prior to Sunday, Hoosick Falls had outscored opponents 96-11 and had shut out six teams in their last eight games. They gave up no goals in Saturday’s semi-final win. It would be Head Coach Denise Campbell’s first championship game after many times of advancing into state play.
But Whitney Point was a formidable foe. The team was a winner of five straight state championships from 2014 to 2018. In the regional and semi-final games leading up to this game they had outscored their opponents 11-0 and 11-0, with 30 shots and 20 corners the prior day against a state semi-final team. The previous five games before Sunday they scored 44 goals to opponents’ zero.
The first half went great for Hoosick Falls. The score at the half was 2-1 in Whitney Point’s favor but the Panthers were right there with them. The Panther defense was disrupting the Eagles and keeping them away from the goal.
After Whitney Point scored a goal earlier in the first quarter, Panther Emma McCart got open on a break with 8:20 on the clock and fired a shot past the Eagles goalie to tie the score at 1-1.
Whitney Point added a second goal at the 3:30 mark in the second quarter but the Panthers were in great shape even with a halftime 2-1 deficit.
Then the third quarter began.
Whatever the Whitney Point coach said to her players to rally her team at the half worked. The Eagles came out and dominated the Panthers over the last two quarters, scoring four goals to the Panthers’ none.
The Lady Panthers team has nothing to be disappointed about. They had a great year and they played in a New York State championship game. They are the second best team in Class C in New York, better than possibly hundreds of others. In addition, the future looks very bright with only three players graduating.
Semi Final
North Salem (17-4) 0
Hoosick Falls (20-1) 2
Hoosick Falls’ defense dominated the North Salem Eagles, especially in the second half when the Eagles only got the ball into Panther territory three times. Emma McCart scored two goals, the second one with an assist from MacKenna Roberson, to lead Hoosick Falls over North Salem in this NYS semi-final game. Hoosick Falls had nine corners to North Salem’s one. Panther Marissa Landry had no saves in goal.