Carle Place edges Schuylerville in OT
By Stan Hudy BINGHAMTON, N.Y. » W hen you have won a Section II title, you have captured the first Class C regional title for Schuylerville High School since 1997 and are in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Final Four, the next goal was to stay another night in a hotel room in Binghamton. A chance to play for a state title Sunday morning.
The Black Horses field hockey team was so close. In fact, they could think about where to have breakfast Sunday morning in Binghamton for 60 minutes as they battled Long Island’s Carle Place to a scoreless tie through regulation.
In the first overtime session, created with a sevenon-seven format, a five-minute penalty left the Black Horses a girl down and the Frogs took advantage. Megan McGuiness scored with 6:47 left to change those plans.
Breakfast plans were scrapped and a small sigh of relief as Schuylerville Coach Erin Lloyd was due to have her baby Tuesday earlier this week can now deliver the baby back in the Capital Region.
“I think their possession ball was very, very strong,” Erin Lloyd said. “They were able to possess the ball in the backfield and make changes, which we struggled to block up that second, third, fourth pass. We’d stop one, two, but then it was three, four five.”
Competing at the state championship rounds asks a lot of all four teams in each class Saturday competing at Maine-Endwell High School or at Vestal High School in Section IV.
“Just coming out and matching the intensity on this stage, being the first time here is a huge piece,” Lloyd said. “We came out intense, there were a couple of things — bounces, maybe a call that didn’t go our way that was hard to adjust to. We’re used to certain things being a certain way and I think that got mentally into us a little bit. Being able to respond to that was a challenge.”
Throughout any field hockey contest you will hear shouts of encouragement at ‘sticks down’ called out to both sides, on Saturday the Black Horses were consistent early on executing its block tackles, placing the entire stick onto the turf to block the ball and a Carle Place defender.
“Our motto this season has been grit and that’s part of being grit,” Lloyd said. “If you’ve ever been in that position, it’s a difficult position to hold and that’s part of it.
“It’s a mental thing, a mental toughness, a physical toughness and they had it. Props to our opponent, they had those sticks as well. Defensively we had those sticks where we wanted them; offensively we didn’t keep the ball on our stick and pull where we wanted it to. We tried to go through and that wasn’t happening.”
Carle Place put six shots on junior goalie Katie Claps in cage and attempted to convert eight penalty corners, limiting the Black Horses to just three penalty corners not producing a shot on the goal box.
“They had a lot of passing which was very good,” goalie Katie Claps said. “They were working on pass backs and through and it had our defense kind of on their toes trying to read it.”
Claps finished with four saves in just her second season in pads and this record season has made its mark on the Schuylerville goalie.
“I’m going to remember my team,” Claps said. “They’re so close to me and they mean a lot to me. They’ve been so supportive this year and we’ve really bonded and come together to make this journey. I’m going to remember them forever.”
McGuiness’ goal was heartbreaking for the Black Horses, but they took the Frogs past the traditional length of play, something both squads will remember.
“There is nothing to hang your head about,” Lloyd said. “You go down in an overtime game in a state semifinal; you’ve left what you needed to. It would have been a little better to be full force in that overtime, but the chips fall where they may.”