The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Oneida downs VVS; falls to Holland Patent
ONEIDA, N.Y. » Fresh off a victory over rival Vernon-Verona-Sherrill in the opening round of Section III Class B playoffs on Thursday, Oneida hosted No. 12 seed Holland Patent on Saturday.
The match appeared to be on its way to a penalty shoot-out as both teams battled all game long to 0-0 tie. Then, with little more than a minute left to play in the second overtime period, Holland Patent’s Megan Greenway fired a curving left foot shot from well outside the 18-yard box, spinning the ball over and past Oneida goalkeeper Kyra Shlotzhauer - who kept Oneida in the game with an outstanding punch save of a direct kick just moments earlier - for a 1-0 advantage.
Oneida was unable to come up with an equalizer in the remaining minute of play as Holland Patent advances to the semifinals for the first time in program history.
“It was a battle the whole way,” Holland Patent coach Josh Olney said after the game, before discussing Greenway’s performance. “We called her up for sectionals. She has a real powerful shot, and it was the one we needed to win.”
Though Oneida was unable to come out on top in this one, the 2017 season marks a milestone year for the program. Oneida won its first Tri-Valley Pioneer League title in program history, and set high marks for total wins and sectional runs in the past 17 years.
“These girls that are seniors decided to take control of the program as eighth graders and brought tremendous effort, character and heart to program,” coach Scott Fallon said. “Last year, we played this game on the road. This year, we play it at home, and take a team to overtime that is basically us. These seniors go out in a ballgame where you play somebody until one to two minutes to go in the game. These are the games you want to get to. Obviously, they are the games you have to win, but for our program to get to this point, and I am sure
it’s the same with Holland Patent, you just go out and battle like both teams and let the chips fall. Wehad opportunities.”
With the win, Holland Patent will advance to take on Westhill in the semifinals.
Thursday, Oct. 19: Vernon-Verona-Sherrill at Oneida - Section III Class B opening round
When the Oneida and Vernon-Verona-Sherrill girls soccer sides met last Thursday, the two rivals battled it out for 100 minutes to a 0-0 draw.
During the opening round of the Class B Section III girls soccer playoffs this Thursday, the two sides found themselves in a familiar position, once again locked in a 0-0 stalemate.
But then, with three minutes left in the contest, Oneida’s Rachel DeRuby chipped the ball forward for Kaya Suppa who then sent forward Sophia Sanchez on a run down the middle of the field toward VVS keeper Samantha Bentley. Bentley, who had come off her line to smother the play, was unable to come upwith the ball, and Sanchez collected the ricochet and put it home for the 1-0 Oneida lead.
The hosts, fresh off a TriValley League Pioneer title, closed out the remaining minutes to capture the win and advance to the sectional quarterfinals.
“Run fast and then just try to put it in,” Sanchez said when asked what was going through her head during the scoring effort. “It feels wonderful because we tied them last week we tied them last week and thatwas a bad feeling, so it was a good feeling to come out on top today.”
With the victory, No. 4 seed Oneida awaits the winner of matchup between No. 5 seed Marcellus and No. 12 Holland Patent.
A back-and-forth affair, Oneida and VVS both had opportunities to net goals, but neither side was able to capitalize in the first half.
Oneida wasted two early corner kicks to open the contest, and nearly scored seven minutes in when Nicole Smith floated a ball just over the crossbar from outside the 18.
VVS almost took the lead with eight minutes remaining in the first half, when Alex Kiser came close to bending a corner just inside the far post, but the ball whispered past the far corner. Perhaps the best Red Devil scoring opportunity came with six minutes left in the first half as Kiser found free space just outside the Oneida 18-yard box and roped a shot toward the net, but Oneida’s Gabrielle Cafalone stepped in front of the blast, stopping the shot before it could try goalkeeper Krya Shlotzhauer.
The second half saw a more aggressive Oneida offense, something coach Scott Fallon credited to a change up to the Oneida formation.
“We really wanted to come out and play a 4-42, and our girls wanted to stick with what we’ve done all year. So, we had a lack of trust with the players not trusting and what we do,” he said. “When we made the switch in the second half, the game changed dramatically. But if you put your players out there, and they are not comfortable with the system, then something bad happens, and it may spiral. So, we put them in our base system so to speak, and then when we changed, they saw it. It allowed two players up front to put pressure on their defense, more pressure on their defense with two forwards rather than just with the one forward.”
Despite the increase in tempo and pace up front, the VVS defense held its own in the second half. Bentley made an outstanding, sprawling save on a Nicole Smith shot near the 60 minute mark to keep the score at 0-0. Moments later, Bentley broke up a give-and-go between DeRuby and Sanchez to keep the Red Devils in it. Then, with three minutes to go before another overtime matchup between the two teams, Oneida cracked the VVS defense as Sanchez, a defender turned attacker, tallied the game-winner.
“Sophia, somewhat wellrested going into the second half because she didn’t play a lot in thefirst half, made the play. She had a chance ear- lier to make one but she had a bad touch,” Fallon said. “She was a defender, and I kept telling people in our JV program that they had to play Sanchez up front. She had too much talent to be left in the back and toomuch speed. They changed her two yearsago, and now this is the player that we have, and she came up big in a big game.”
With the loss VVS closes out a season inwhich it went 7-7-3 overall and finished third in Pioneer League play. It’s also the second year in a row the Red Devils were ousted from the playoffs by Scott Fallon’s side.
“I thought their performance was excellent. I think It was a game of defenses,” VVS coach Shawn Lyncy said of his team. “I think both teams were fighting really hard to not let that ball go into the net. I thought it was going to take a mistake to decide the game, and unfortunately, it was our mistake, and Oneida capitalized on it.”
Lyncy also addressed his departing seniors.
“To have 10 seniors on the team and lose 10 all at once is a bigger chunk than normal,” he said. “I love themall and hope for the best for all of them. This year it’s really going to hurt.”