Devon Heaney's shootout goal puts Garden City in title game
Devon Heaney #9 moves the ball down field against Miller place during the Long Island Class B field hockey final at Dowling Sports Complex on Sunday, Nov. 8, 2015. Credit: Daniel De Mato
ENDWELL, N.Y. -- Devon Heaney scored the lone shootout goal to give Garden City a 4-3 win over Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake in the Class B state field hockey semifinals Saturday night at Maine-Endwell High School.
The Trojans play Lakeland for the championship Sunday at 3 p.m. Lakeland, which has won six consecutive state titles, beat Garden City last year in the state final.
"It was very exciting," Heaney said. "Everyone was very nervous going into it, but we knew one team would come out as the winner and we wanted to be that one team. We all put the tears and a negative attitude aside and had a positive attitude going into the shootout."
Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake tied the score at 3 when Danielle Kempf scored on a penalty corner with four minutes left in regulation. Michaela Bruno took a penalty stroke minutes later, but shot wide and Garden City failed to score on a penalty corner in the final seconds of regulation.
Both teams traded momentum through the two overtimes, but Garden City (17-0) had more fast-break attempts. The Trojans had two chances in the final two minutes of overtime and missed a corner at the end of the second overtime.
"The competition was very high," Heaney said. " . . . It was a little close, but I feel with the team, the way we've played, we can do great things. I'm just excited we get to prove ourselves tomorrow in the state championship. If we can play how we played today, it will be good for us."
The game started with Garden City looking strong.
Bruno ran to the right side and sent a ball down low, which was put in by Emily Clarke in traffic to put her team up by three with 13 minutes left in the first half.
Garden City started to dominate by the two-minute mark in the first. The Trojans were led up field by Bruno and Taylor Gladd, and got comfortable in the offensive zone.
Garden City had three corners and Heaney converted the last one on a feed from Bruno to take a 1-0 lead eight minutes into the game. Clarke and Heaney connected on a give-and-go to go up by two.
The Trojans pressed offensively for the next 10 minutes, but momentum swung the other way when Elise Zwicklbauer scored on Burnt Hills' first corner and first shot. Zwicklbauer faked left and cut right before launching a hard shot on goal.
Burnt Hills (17-3) played inspired field hockey out of the half and had five corners within the first five minutes of the second. Garden City goalie Sabrina Milone made big saves, but couldn't stop Courtney Kruzikas' tipped ball on the corner to make it 3-2.
The Trojans fought back and settled the game down with a few corners, but Burnt Hills goalie Brittany Ryan made big stops, including two quick saves with 13 minutes left in regulation.
"It was a great game. We got up 3-0 and let them back in and they tied it. I thought their goalie was phenomenal," Garden City coach Diane Chapman said. "Coming down to shootouts, Sabrina Milone, she was able to stop every single one -- phenomenal -- and the pressure was on us, but Devon was able to score."
