The Patriots’ season came to an end today with a loss to the York Wildcats 2-0 in their preliminary match-up. This was a hard fought battle by both sides that could have easily gone the other way.
The Patriots had one of the best opportunities of the game in the first fifteen minutes. Ashleen Perkins had the ball on the left side of the field, just behind the defensive line. She sent a low cross into the box that Jordan Grant wasn’t quite able to get onto, but did enough to cause the keeper to miss the ball. It made it to the back post where a couple of Patriots and Wildcats were waiting. The ball bounced around between them, a couple shots were taken, then blocked by the defense until the ball was ultimately cleared out of the penalty box.
The second half continued the back and forth play by both teams. With the energy coming from the Patriots in the first ten minutes of the second have you would have thought for sure they would score first. Unfortunately for the Patriots the Wildcats found the first goal of the game with just over twenty-one minutes left. It was a great shot by Delaney LaBonte. A hard, low ball that went into the side netting of the far post.
West Duffy nearly scored one for the Patriots when she had space to run in the midfield. She sent a hard long shot that knuckled as it went towards the keeper, who instead of trying to catch it just let it hit her in the shins, ricocheting out of bounds for a corner.
The Wildcats secured the win when Nina Howe netted a second goal with only one minute left in the game. This goal came from a cross that bounced around off several players, after a couple blocked shots by the defense.
The Patriots as a whole had a fantastic game, with every player doing everything they could to try to win the game. This included Ivy Abrams, who had one of her best games in goal. She made several tough saves to keep the Wildcats from scoring. One of which was a high diving save early in the second half on a shot that looked destined to go in. Another came late in the second half on a breakaway. She came running out to try to take the ball from the attacker and had to suddenly get her hands up to make the save as the shot came in before she got to the ball.
The Patriots had another successful season, finishing with a record of 7-8. This marked the sixth straight season the Patriots have made the playoffs. The Patriots had ten different goal scorers this season and ten different players with assists. Jordan Grant finished the season as the leading scorer for the Patriots with ten goals, while Eliza Hotham and West Duffy added four each. West lead the team in assists with four, while Izzy Brindley and Ashleen Perkins each at three. Ivy Abrams and Sydney Rodrigues combined for a total of sixty saves through fifteen games. Congratulations to Patriots and especially the seniors for a great season.