VESTAL – Greene’s field hockey team went 1 and 0 for the 20th time this season. The last of those victories brought home the school’s sixth New York State championship.
Greene maintained a stingy brand of defense that did not allow a single goal against the best teams in the state, and blanked Mamoraneck of Section I, 1-0, Saturday afternoon at Dick Hoover Field in the Class A title game.
It was the first state title for Greene since 2002 when the Trojans captured the Class B championship under head coach Sue Carlin. The victory also makes up for a state semifinals disappointment a year ago that has served as motivation for this year’s perfect 20-0 season.
“When we walked off the field last year, the first thing out of our mouths was, ‘we’ll get it next year,’” said Greene senior tri-captain, Erin Smith.
Carlin, who now has four coaching state titles – two at Maine-Endwell to go with her two at Greene – made it her job to keep her veteran team focused on the next game, a tough chore for a club that breezed through an unbeaten regular season with its closest game a 1-0 win early on against Maine-Endwell.
“After that loss (last year), we could not wait to get back here,” Smith said. “Every day, starting with first day of preseason, (our thought was) ‘we’re getting there and we’re winning it.’ We took it one day at a time and were really patient. It was very hard to do that, and we’ve been just dying to do that. We didn’t want to lose focus.
“Our coach was on us about it. Every day, every game, it was one day and one game...1 and 0, 1 and 0. We don’t keep track of wins, and we see every game as potentially our last game.”
Regardless of the outcome, Saturday would be the last hurdle to clear for Greene, and the Trojans dominated play at the outset generating four penalty corners in succession in the game’s opening six minutes.
The unrelenting pressure yielded the game’s only goal 7:59 into the contest. Christine Conroe pushed the ball up the field and into the penalty circle. The ball made its way to Andrea Day, who swept a pass to Smith in front of the goal. Smith, who led Greene with 17 tallies this season, slid the ball between the legs of Mamaroneck keeper Katie Stuntz.
“They were really packing in their defense,” Carlin said. “We were able to squirt it through. Some times you have to have a little luck with this game.”
It wasn’t luck, though, that allowed Greene to consistently maintain possession of the ball. The Tigers (19-2-1) made just one foray into the Greene penalty circle the entire first half, and that was just for a mere second before the ball was cleared out.
In spite of an anemic offensive performance in the first half, Mamaroneck – much like Williamsville North, Greene’s semifinals opponent – turned the momentum of the game 180 degrees in the second half.
Mamaroneck had three penalty corners in the first five minutes of the second half as the Trojans rarely had the ball out of their own circle. On the first corner, Greene goalie Devyn Staley – she of 17 shutout wins this year – cleared the ball herself. On the second, a shot and attempted tip-in went wide, and the third corner, Conroe flew to the ball and disrupted the play before any shot occurred.
