Photos and Story by Janet Schultz
Niagara County Lady Warriors won their first play-off game in the history of the team. They beat HEWS to move on to the Semi-finals. Kenmore/Grand Island beat Lancaster/Iroquois/Depew and Frontier/Lakeshore/Orchard Park beat Clarence/Amherst/Sweethome, but it took an overtime.
KGI and LID dropped the puck and KGI made their mark early in the first period and closed out the period 2-0. Isabelle Bourgeault scored first with assists from Isabella Jayme and Alexa Denning. The second goal turned out to be the winning goal, scored short-handed and unsassisted by Carissa Buyea. The score remained 2-0 until the third period when LID dropped in the first goal by Sydney Radecki, assisted by Summer Cole. Then KGI made the moves to seal the win with goals by Emiliana Cassillo, unassisted; another by Buyea, assisted by Cassillo and Madison Flory. The final goal of the evening was made by Flory, assisted by I. Bourgeault and Jayme.
Goaltending was Carolyn Bourgeault who stopped 15 of 16 SOG and for LID, MacKenzie Walkowiak who faced 53 SOG.
KGI moves to the Semi-Finals and will face Niagara County Thursday, Feb. 3 at 6 p.m.
History was made by Niagara County as they head to the semi-finals. They beat Hamburg/Eden/West Seneca 3-1 after overcoming a 1-1 tie after first period. HEWS got on the board first when Elizabeth O’Brien scored an unassisted goal. After that Niagara County’s Paige Spatorico scored a short-handed goal, assisted by Skylar Berube and the first ends tied at one. The Lady Warriors scored twice in the second and the score carries through the third period. Goals came from Natalie Ponzi, the game-winner and Abby Zimmerman, who also had an assist. Kayla Persinger also logged an assist. In goal Mariela Mulready made 16/17 and HEWS Leia Schneid faced 44 shots.
The final game of the night went into overtime with FLOP coming out with a 5-4 win with Kathleen Doughtery getting the game winner. First period ended 1-0 with CASH leading. The second saw four goals with CASH scoring two and FLOP scoring two, one with 45.9 seconds left, an unassisted goal by Lilly Kushner. CASH scored first in the third period but with two more goals, the final at the 48.2 second mark, FLOP tied it 4-4. Those goals game from Doughtery, an unassisted powerplay goal and Maya Griffin.
The overtime winning goal came from Doughtery, assisted by Taylor Joyce and Maya Griffin and the evening ends 5-4 FLOP.
Goals for CASH were scored by Isabella Zivis, with two, one unassisted; Isabella Clary on the powerplay and Shea Hall. Assisting were Allison Greene, Sydney Spear (2) and Georgia Mango.
Kerrigan McCarthy stopped 19 of 23 SOG for FLOP and for CASH Melissa McLeodfaced 39, stopping 34.
All Semi-final games are scheduled for Norttowns arena, Thursday, Feb. 3, beginning at 4:30 p.m. If weather forces postponement, check NYHOL and WNYGVIH Facebook and Twitter pages for updates.
