by Steve Bradley
The Panthers had 17 corners. The Greenwich Witches had none. The Panthers took eight shots. Greenwich took one. Theirs counted.
Last Friday, in a great battle on the HFCS field, the Panthers and the Witches played their hearts out. For the entire regulation time, they fought. The Panthers had more offense, but the Witches negated that by playing great defense in front of the net. Liz Ryan, Ally Burdick and all the Panther offensive weapons had their chances, but Greenwich did not allow them to get the ball into the net. The game moved into overtime, with seven on-field players per team as opposed to the regulation 11, and still neither team could get the break they needed to get a shot past the goalie, or in the Witches case, to just get a shot. The first overtime came to an end and neither team had a score.
The second overtime was more battling. With just under seven minutes left, the Witches’ Isabelle Zuzmich, on an assist from Sabrina Whitehouse, was able to get a shot in the goal, ending the game and giving Greenwich the win.
Wednesday, the Granville Golden Horde came to visit. In the seniors last home game, the Panthers defeated Granville 4 – 0. Senior Caytlyn Springer scored three goals and senior Maddy Ryan added one for the Panthers. Hoosick Falls had 24 corners to Granville’s zero. Panther goalie Kaitlyn Backes had two saves while Granville’s Hannah Bassett had 13.
The game against Granville concluded the regular season for the Lady Panthers. Their overall record stands at 14 – 1 and 9 – 1 in League play. Sectionals are next, and seedings will be chosen and game sites announced over the next week.