Title game report

From the Press-Republican:

"Hamilton rally stuns Chazy


By CRAIG KNOWLES
Staff Writer

ONEONTA — The Chazy boys' soccer team, leading by a 3-0 score with less than 18 minutes remaining, was that close to defending its NYSPHSAA Class D championship Sunday afternoon.

The Eagles, however, fell victim to Section III's Hamilton, which capped a furious rally early in overtime for a 4-3 win at the National Soccer Hall of Fame Field.

"I'm disappointed with the outcome of the game," Chazy head coach Rob McAuliffe said. "Most people didn't expect us to get this far this year."

The Eagles, who had won three state titles in the last four years, hadn't lost a championship game since the 1999 season when they fell to Faith Heritage in the title game.

Chazy (22-2 overall) appeared to have the game pretty much wrapped up midway through the second half.

But, Hamilton was able to come all the way back to force overtime and then scored the game winning goal just 41 seconds into the first 15-minute sudden-victory overtime.

Drew Thompson serviced a ball to Dan Kraynak and he beat back-up Chazy keeper Chris Vliege, who had replaced an injured Austin Santor late in regulation time.

"We are a young team and they put it to us," McAuliffe said.

The Section VII champions came out flat early in the first half and Hamilton dominated the first 15 minutes of play. The Emerald Knights controlled possession and spent much of the early moments in the Eagles' defensive third of the field.

"We were dominated in the first 10-15 minutes of the first half," McAuliffe said. "I thought that we would eventually settle down, however."

The tables turned at the 20-minute mark as Chazy found the back of the net. Jason Baker retained a ball at midfield and dribbled down the center of the field. Baker then beat a defender 35 yards out, dribbled in and ripped a ball that went far post, beating Hamilton goalie William Keeve.

Then, exactly nine minutes later on a set play from just outside the 18-yard box, Stetson Fields and Jordan Barriere ran over the ball and Baker passed it towards the end line to Fields. Fields one-timed the ball across the goal mouth to Barriere, who stuck it into the far post at 31:20.

The momentum was clearly in favor of Chazy as the half ended with the Eagles up 2-0.

"We didn't give up and we kept going," McAuliffe said. "I knew the second half would be tough, however, because Hamilton is a good team that can score."

With just over 15 minutes gone in the second half, Chazy's Shea Howley took a blistering shot that went off of Keeve and the Eagles' Brandon Laurin was there for the rebound. Keeve was out of position and the ball was sent towards the goal heading into the upper netting when a Knights' defender jumped up and slapped the ball over the crossbar.

Chazy was awarded a penalty kick. The Hamilton player, however, was not given a red card for the intentional hand ball."


Seems curious that the red card wasn't given on the intentional hand ball.

A bitter loss, but the team got further than most expected, and finishing second in the state is a great achievement.

Congrats to Hamilton on the great comeback, and also to Chazy on a great season, and hopefully the injured players will get better soon.