Style points and big margins are nice to attain, but once the post-season rolls around, all that matters to the Cazenovia field hockey team is getting to the next round.
In an odd Section III Class C semifinal Sunday night at Liverpool High School Stadium, the top-seeded Lakers dominated the flow of play against no. 5 seed Holland Patent, but still had to work all the way to the wire to earn a 1-0 victory over the Golden Knights.
Earning the top seed was a mixed blessing for Cazenovia, in that it created a nine-day break following the team’s Oct. 16 regular-season finale, an 8-0 win over Homer.
While the Lakers rested and practiced, it may have lost a bit of its game edge, something that Holland Patent, who has given Cazenovia plenty of troubles in past sectional tournaments, didn’t have to worry about, since it had to get through an opening-round game last Tuesday, beating Port Byron 2-1.
It didn’t take long for the game’s pattern to emerge. HP packed its defenders deep in its own end, allowing Cazenovia a vast majority of the possession and, ultimately, a rash of penalty corners.
Ten different times in the first half, the less-than-sharp Lakers whiffed on penalty corners, often thwarted by HP goalie Joelle Friermuth, who had seven saves.
But on the 11th try, Zoe Shephard forced a ball to the middle that Maria Stalder poked past Friermuth with 3:46 left in the half. No one on Cazenovia’s side imagined that it would be the only goal of the game.
The Golden Knights’ attacks were far less frequent, but there were chances late in the half, plus a serious run late in the second half after Cazenovia had run its penalty corner total to 25 without adding to its slim margin.
When they needed to work, defenders Maddy Langey, Mikaylee Whalen and Caroline Hudson proved effective, deflecting HP’s shots before they got to the net, including a rush by the Golden Knights and a shot that got tipped wide with four minutes left.
The win puts Cazenovia (15-2) one victory away from its 10th consecutive sectional championship, one it can earn Thursday when it returns to LHS Stadium Thursday to face Little Falls in the Class C final. The no. 3 seed Mounties upended no. 2 seed Canastota 4-1 in Sunday’s other semifinal game.
