ROCHESTER, NY – Despite being outplayed by No. 2 seeded Utica to start the game and facing a 1-0 deficit after 15 minutes of play, the third-seeded Hartwick field hockey team never wavered, as they scored the next three goals in a 3-2, Empire 8 Semifinal win on a cold day in top-seeded St. John Fisher's Growney Stadium. The victory is the Hawks' first ever in the Empire 8 Tournament since it began in 2007, and bumps them up to 12-6 on the season as they search for win number 13 tomorrow in the Empire 8 Championship. The Pioneers finish their season at 8-11.
Hartwick had a great chance to start off on a high note on the very first rush of the game, but Allyson Quirk (Longmeadow, MA/Longmeadow) was stopped from close range by Utica goalkeeper Megan Chamberlain. The Pioneers turned the tables from there, and ended up breaking the ice in the sixth minute off a corner. Jeslyn Files took it, and Josie Sgarlata ended up with the goal at 5:45 after a shot from near the top of the circle, assisted by Sabrina Whitehouse and Files.
Utica had a few more chances to double their lead before the end of the quarter, but Hartwick goalie Allyson Osborne (Nottingham, PA/Solanco) would have none of that. After some precise tic-tac-toe passing by the Pioneers off the rush in the 12th minute, she stifled a Whitehouse shot, and later on in the same minute saved a Madeline Krecidlo chance off a corner. The Hawks earned a corner in the 14th minute that provided Leah Tolley (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford Mendon) with a good opportunity to tie up the game, but she could not quite get it by Chamberlain.
Early in the second quarter, it seemed as if Hartwick might have knotted the score. Quirk corralled the ball beautifully in her own end, got past a Pioneer, and sprung Sydney Gagnon (Chestertown, NY/North Warren Central). Gagnon crossed a ball that was put in by another Hawk, but a whistle had blown seconds earlier that stopped play for a Hartwick corner. 'Wick was not at all discouraged; in fact, they tied the game for real on the ensuing corner. The Rebecca Peakes (Mechanicville, NY/Shenendehowa) to Brooke Singer (Johnson City, NY/Maine-Endwell) connection worked as it has so often this season, as Singer rocketed one from the top of the circle into the back of the net at 18:20.
The Hawks continued to buzz, with two more great chances resulting from penalty corners not long after their goal. Singer tried the same strategy again in the 22nd minute, but her shot was blocked. Hartwick earned another corner on that play, and this time Singer tried to pass lower into the circle, but the ball was intercepted by a Pioneer. A few minutes later Gina Cozetti (Commack, NY/Commack) had two shots off a corner, both stopped by Chamberlain. Again, the Hawks earned a second corner. It seemed as if they had taken the lead, as Singer scorched another one to the back of the cage, but it was called off for a dangerous shot.
Once again, 'Wick was not discouraged. Quirk's excellent play continued; she sent a pass out to herself on the right wing, raced past a defender to get to it, carried the ball into the circle, and made a perfect centering pass right to the stick of Gagnon, who swept it into the net at 26:55 for the lead. The Hawks would carry that lead into the half.
Utica's Sydney Scaccia had a decent chance early in the third, but that was blocked by a Hawk, and a cross in the 33rd minute rolled past the goal where Krecidlo got a stick on it, but her sharp angle shot was smothered by Osborne. Hartwick solidified their lead barely over two minutes later. Tolley took the ball near midfield on the run, and she, Gagnon, and Quirk were off to the races on a 3-on-1. Tolley sent the ball past a Pioneer back and on to the stick of Gagnon, who now had a 2-on-0 with Quirk. They charged towards the cage, and when Chamberlain came out to challenge Gagnon, she slid it over to Quirk for a goal into the vacated net at 34:43. The remainder of the period was fairly quiet, as the teams went back-and-forth but neither generated a dangerous scoring chance.
Utica made Hartwick fans a little nervous just over six minutes in to the fourth, when they cut their deficit back to one. They had a couple chances off a corner, with a Joanna Gaertner shot that was blocked accounting for one. The Pioneers were then awarded a penalty stroke at 51:04, taken by defender Ricki Haab. Haab struck one low and to the left side of the net that Osborne could not quite get enough of, as the ball squeaked over the line. Luckily for the Hawks, there was no further scoring. Whitehouse had a solid chance with just over two-and-a-half remaining, but put it wide. The last Utica opportunity came on a cross with 1:15 on the clock, but it rolled through the crease and past the end line. Time continued to tick down, and at zero the Hawks bench sprinted out on to the field to celebrate the program's first ever Empire 8 Tournament victory.
Quirk and Gagnon were phenomenal all day for Hartwick, playing a hand in all three goals. Each had a goal and an assist, while Gagnon had three shots and Quirk had two. Singer was also lights out at midfielder, putting up her goal on a game-high four shots. Osborne did her job in net, earning the win with four saves in six chances throughout all sixty minutes.
Whitehouse and Krecidlo matched Singer's game-high in shots with four of their own; Whitehouse also had an assist. Sgarlata and Haab each scored on their only shot, and Files' main offensive contribution was via an assist. Chamberlain was tested all day, and made seven saves on ten shots on goal.
Though the shot battle was even at 13-all, the Hawks, who got some well-earned revenge after Utica spoiled their Senior Day in the regular season, had 10 shots on goal to the Pioneers' six. 'Wick also doubled their opponent's penalty corner total, at 6-3.
In the Empire 8 title game for the first time ever, the Hawks are looking for their first conference championship since 2005, when they nabbed the E8 title with an undefeated record. They will take on either #4 Nazareth or #1 St. John Fisher, pending the result of the day's second Semifinal. Either way, the Championship game will be played at 1 p.m. tomorrow in Growney Stadium.
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