UTICA — The final result wasn’t what they had hoped for, but it’s difficult to imagine a much better inaugural season for the Adirondack United varsity girls’ hockey team.
United fell to Section III’s Clinton, 2-1, in the NYSPHSAA Regional Final on Saturday, coming up just short of a state championship. Head coach Jeff Willis said it was an “incredible accomplishment” to reach the final game of the year.
“We’ve really made a name for ourselves,” said Willis. “More importantly, looking at things long-term, I wanted to develop a culture. Not only a team culture, but an attitude, a winning culture. We successfully did that.”
United finished their first season with an overall record of 19-2-0. The team advanced to Saturday’s final after defeating Canton (Section X) 4-1 in the regional semifinals on Friday.
United got out to a quick start in the semifinals, taking an early 2-0 lead on goals by Emily MacAuley and Lillian Willis. The Bears responded, with a 5-on-3 powerplay goal by Anna Hoose making it 2-1, but United answered with a goal by Bayley Duffy to take a 3-1 lead after the first period.
Neither team was able to score again until the final minute, when an empty-net goal by Duffy locked up a 4-1 final score and a spot in Saturday’s title game.
Saturday saw United take on a familiar foe in Clinton. The two teams played twice during the regular season, splitting a pair of meetings on Jan. 2 and Jan. 20.
Similar to Friday’s win, United jumped out to a strong start, taking a 1-0 lead just over five minutes in after Lillian Willis danced around a defender and beat Clinton goaltender Casey Clausen.
“We were trying just to convince Lillian that she needs to walk in and shoot more,” said Willis of the game’s opening goal. “In the latter part of the season, especially the last two weeks, she’s done a lot more of that and been really successful.”
But the Warriors responded, tying the game just over a minute later. MacKinley Ronan threw a shot on goal that deflected off an Adirondack defender and past goalie Ava Reynolds.
Adirondack settled in and outshot Clinton 25-9 in the game but couldn’t crack Clausen for another goal. Willis referred to the Warriors’ netminder as “one of the best goaltenders in New York State.”
“We just didn’t move the puck fast enough or release the puck quick enough to beat her,” said Willis. “When you look at the 5-0 game that we had against Clinton (on Jan. 20), we did an excellent job of that. They took away our time and space and didn’t give us as many opportunities.”
With under two minutes remaining, an Adirondack shot was blocked and turned into a 2-on-1 rush for Clinton, with Drew Kopek beating Reynolds to give the Warriors a 2-1 lead. United threw several chances on net in the final minutes but were unable to even the score.
Despite the tough loss, Willis said “there were a ton of successes,” to take away from the season, and emphasized the future of the program.
“It’s not just about this season, it’s about what this turns into,” said Willis. “There was a whole 12U Northstars team that showed up because they were playing out in the area, and they stopped in to watch and support this team. That’s where I start to see the impact.”
And while the championship loss is still fresh, Willis said he and the rest of the team’s coaching staff have already begun looking to next year. Though the United team was mostly unknown around the state before the start of this season, they are likely to deal with some high expectations in the fall.
“Next year will be a little bit different, because there will be expectations,” Willis acknowledged. “It’ll be up to the kids as to how much they develop over the summer, as to where we start next season. But we have every intention of hopefully coming out just as strong next year.”
