On Tuesday evening with the season on the line, it was a battle to the bitter end but the Lady Vikes came up short as the Haymakers advanced. Katie Francis (‘15) scored with 23 seconds left in the game to tie it up but the Haymakers came right back to score the game winning goal taking the 9-8 victory.
Defense was the story of the first quarter as Paly held San Benito to only two goals. Aggressive goalkeeping by Abby Bromberg (‘13) kept the Lady Vikes in the game but the offensive struggles continued as co-captain Martine LeClerc (‘13) accounted for the only Viking offense in the first.
San Benito scored a late goal near the end of the 2nd quarter to put the Lady Vikes down 3-1 causing Paly to burn a timeout. Out of the timeout Paly offense began to click as Tess Van Hulsen (‘15) had a breakaway opportunity but her shot hit the post. Abby Kinnaman (‘13) came right back in the next possession for the Vikings throwing a soft lob shot goal giving Paly momentum going into the 2nd half down 3-2.
The Lady Vikes used the momentum to regain the lead as Emma Wolfe (‘14) wasted no time scoring on the first possession of the 3rd quarter. Van Hulsen came back a few possessions later scoring in transition to put the Lady Vikes up 4-3.
The goals continued to pour on as the Haybalers fought back exchanging goals with the Vikings. After the Lady Vikes attacker Kinnaman scored her second goal of the night San Benito came back with two goals to tie the game 5-5. LeClerc soon after took advantage of an ejection by one of the Haymaker players to score regaining the lead for the Lady Vikes. San Benito would tack on two more goals to give them the lead 7-6 heading into the 4th quarter.
The Haybalers scored a quick goal to begin the last quarter of play to draw the score 8-7. The defense for both teams began to pick up significantly as both teams seasons were on the line. Van Hulsen ran the two on one fast break with Kinnaman and Van Hulsen scored a much needed goal with 1:34 left to keep the game in reach for the Lady Vikes.
With 23 seconds left Francis scored a long range goal to tie the game at 8 all. With the Paly fans going nuts cheering that the season was not over yet the Haymakers fought back in the final seconds to score the game winning goal eliminating the Vikings.
Head coach Spencer Dornin comment about the resilience and hard work of his team.
“The girls really improved throughout the course of the season, the hard work they put in all year really came through and they just did a fantastic job” Dornin said. “I’m real proud of all the girls, they played their hearts out we just came up short today.”
The Lady Vikes season had come to a devastating end up the Lady Vikes are looking to come back strong next year.
