BY BRIAN FEESSouthern Tier Sports Report
WAVERLY — After getting outscored 7-1 in the first two games of the year the Corning Hawks weren’t sure what to expect this season.
On Thursday the season came to an end for the Hawks, but the ending included a sectional championship plaque as they tied Ithaca 0-0 to share the title.
“Honestly there was a point in our season where we lost our first two games, we got smoked, like 7 goals I think we gave up the first two games and I am panicking in my head thinking oh my god how am I going to add games so I can get into sectionals,” Corning coach Julie Pierce said. “All season long we battled and we battled and we ended up with three losses on our season. We tied these guys once, we beat them once and now we just get a sectional, it sucks to end the way it did, but I said to my seniors they were so sad, I said be said that it’s over, but not how it ended because this couldn’t have ended better for them.
“No one expected us to be here. We lost a ton of kids last year and my whole back, Maggie is a senior, Hayden is a senior and Karina (Swarthout) hasn’t even been a goalie for a year, she hasn’t even had her one year anniversary as a goalie and she had key stops in that game, those corner kicks. I don’t know how many corner kicks we gave them, but too many. I couldn’t be more proud of their grit and determination. I think the biggest takeaway is just never giving up, they never gave up, they are a technically very strong team. It’s sad that it’s over, but not the way we ended our season. Walking away as a co-sectional champion wasn’t even on our radar when the season started.”
Corning started the year with a 3-0 loss to Maine-Endwell and a 4-1 loss to Horseheads. The Hawks never gave up more than two goals in a game the rest of the year, and they didn’t allow a goal in sectionals.
“Eliza DeRito is arguably one of the best (players in the section), she’s going D1, full ride, she’s going to Marist I think, and I had a sophomore (Roni Nevins) on her the entire game, who is a lacrosse player, she’s probably going to be a D1 lacrosse player someday, she plays two months of soccer all year long, 3 months of soccer, for her to take on that responsibility of guarding her. She scored two goals against Maine-Endwell in the STAC final, she is there go-to-girl and all season long we defended well against her.”
The season ended for the Hawks on Thursday as Ithaca makes the trip to states, edging Corning 5-4 in the penalty kicks.
Hayden Robertson, Lia Mazzali, Maggie Calkins and Brynna Walsh all scored goals for the Hawks in the shootout, but the Little Red converted all five of their kicks.
While the Hawks have a good group of seniors, they have a number of younger players that got a chance to play in a big game.
“The current seniors two of them were on the team when we won both boys and girls. We both played Elmira in the sectional final. It’s incredible for the young kids. Like Brynna is a freshman, we have some young, young kids out here too mixed in with the seniors. Karina is only, our goalie is a sophomore.
————
PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES
PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE GAME:
