Lakers Fall in Regional Championship

DRYDEN, NY -- The Finger Lakes Women's Soccer team lost in the Region IIIA Championship on Saturday, 3-2 in penalty kicks. The game was tied through overtime 1-1. The Lakers finished the season 14-5.

The first half of the Regional Championship started slow with both teams feeling each other out. Both teams tried to find the right pass to hit their elite scorers. As the half continued, the scoring chances increased for both teams. Mohawk Valley broke through for the first goal of the game in the 25th minute. The Lakers answered quickly a minute later. Brittany Maggio would take the ball down the right side of the box and fire a shot that went over the Hawks goalie and into the net. The goal was Maggio's 37th of the season, tying her for the school record. The 1-1 score would carry into halftime.

The Lakers offense came out fast in the second half putting multiple shots on goal in the first five minutes. The flow of the game would balance out as Mohawk would get some chances in the waining minutes of regulation. With 10 minutes left, their leading scorer Silvana Giovannone got loose behind the Lakers defense, but the shot was sent wide of the net. The Hawks would get another attempt in the 85th minute but Amanda DeGraff stopped the threat at the top of the Lakers box. The game, tied at 1-1, would go to overtime.

Brittani Bove would get a few shots off to start the first overtime, however they were all handled by Mohawk. Both teams traded a few long range efforts but neither team had a true scoring opportunity in the first overtime.

That would change in the second overtime though. Giovannone would get another breakaway in the 102nd minute. Daniele Ogrodowski would come out to cut the angle and make the save on the low shot. The ball would kick to her right and find Mohawk's second leading scorer Meghan Carlo. Her shot too would be stopped by Ogrodowski to maintain the tie. The freshman goalie finished the game with 8 saves.

With the score tied after 110 minutes the game would go to penalty kicks. Finger Lakes would shoot first and the ball would go off the post. Mohawk would convert for the early 1-0 lead. Brittany Maggio would shoot right, the ball would go off of the Hawks goalie's arm and carromed into the net. Ogrodowski would save the next shot to tie it at 1-1 after two shooters. MVCC would take the 2-1 lead following 4 shooters, which set up Amanda DeGraff needing to score to keep it going. She would score lower left and Mohawk's goalie would shoot it wide to go to extra shooters. It would only take one extra shooter, however, as Finger Lakes would put it wide and Mohwak Valley would score to win the shootout 3-2 and the Region IIIA Championship.

Earning All-Tournament Team honors for the Lakers was goalie Daniele Ogrodowski, forward Brittany Maggio, and defender Jessa Blondell. Stay tuned to FLCCAthletics.com in the coming weeks for a season recap as well as updates on post-season awards earned by the Lakers.