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North field hockey advances to state semis
The Lady Spartans defeated Section V's Penfield, 3-0, in the Class A Far West Regional last Thursday at Amherst High School's Dimp Wagner Field and Section IV's Greene, 2-0, in the state quarterfinals last Saturday at Oneonta State College. North (21-0) faces Section IX's Ward Melville (18-1-1) in the Class A state semifinals at 5:30 p.m. on Friday at North-Cicero High School. The winner faces either Section I's Lakeland (21-1) or Section II's Saratoga (17-3) for the state title at 2 p.m. on Saturday, also at North-Cicero.
"I'm so happy for the kids," said North coach Kris Lapaglia. "They've set themselves a goal and hopefully they will reach it on Saturday." The regional was a rematch of the 2005 game won by Penfield, 1-0. Lapaglia said many of her players that were sophomores from that game are now seniors. "Their mission was to win," said Lapaglia. Senior midfielder Chantae Miller put North up 1-0 eight minutes into the first half off a corner. She was assisted by senior defender Adriana Meholick. "It was nice to score a quick goal and get the momentum swung our way," said Lapaglia. Lapaglia said Penfield made a defensive adjustment in the second half, triple and sometimes quadruple teaming Miller in the middle of the field, which forced North to use more quick release passes. "My kids had to adjust," said Lapaglia. "I don't think we played our best hockey in the first 12 to 13 minutes." Senior goalie Nicole Lewis made three huge saves in the first 13 minutes of the second half, Lapaglia said. "It was the first time she was really tested this year," she said. "Our defense (Emily Curry, Meholick and Holly Flanigan) once again played extremely well. When we needed a stop, the defense was there." Miller fought through all of Penfield's pressure with a beautiful thread-the-needle pass to Allie Ahern, who faked left, brought it back right and pushed it into the right corner of the net with 5:34 remaining. Junior attacker Emily O'Gorman passed it to Miller to set up the play. Meholick made it 3-0 at 2:20 on a scramble in front of the net. Miller and O'Gorman assisted with quick passes to Meholick. "It was nice to see them capitalize when it could have easily swung Penfield's way," said Lapaglia. "It's nice to know we have balance on the team where other kids will step up and support each other if other kids get in a funk during the game." Like the Penfield game, North took the lead early on Greene, courtesy of Miller. She netted her 39th goal of the season two minutes into the first half off a corner. Seniors Leslie Ahern and Trish Kennery assisted. Allie Ahern deflected in a rocket from Miller to make it 2-0 six minutes later. "Lauren Weber, who is my right winger, sent it in and Chantae blasted the ball and Allie had her stick on the turf and deflected it right past the goalie," said Lapaglia. Lapaglia felt her team maintained good ball possession with short, quick passes to keep it away from Greene. Lewis made four saves. "None of their shots were threatening," Lapaglia said. e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com |
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