Very much to the relief of New York head coach Jason Deering of Southwestern, it was not necessary to go to extra time on Sunday, but it was from the penalty marker that New York got started and it controlled the contest until the final whistle with a 3-1 victory at the Kessel Athletic Complex at Pitt-Bradford.

After plenty of pressure in the early going, Ellicottville’s Owen Doherty won a penalty and proceeded to hammer a shot that was too strong for Eisenhower’s Casey Seymour, despite him getting a hand on it.

Pennsylvania equalized shortly after when a goaltending error was caused by slipping on the turf, allowing Northern Clarion’s Logan Bish to tap in his side’s only tally.

Pennsylvania mustered a couple of more inspired attacks after pulling level, but New York soon settled back into its dominant possession game. Then before halftime, New York regained the lead on a give and go with Maple Grove’s Ty Kraft setting up Portville’s Colin German.

Times Observer photo by Christian Storms Warren’s Quinn Norris, playing for Pennsylvania Gold, makes a move with possession of the ball.

“The talent we have on this field is amazing,” Deering said. “I love watching these guys do their things and what we had for attack, those players just fit my type of game and fit each other’s type of game.

Hoping to avoid another overtime, New York pressed hard for an insurance goal in the second half, but was deterred several times with Seymour making big stops for Pennsylvania.

The relief came with just about 10 minutes left, as Randolph’s Cooper Freeman set up Wellsville’s Aiden Cowburn for the dagger, a 3-1 lead and likely the return of the cup to the Empire State.

“When it was 2-1 that’s all I thought about, how last year we got the tying goal,” Deering said. “I was praying for that third goal to happen and a couple incidents down there I was really hoping we could get another goal and get it taken care of.”

Pennsylvania put together some inspired counter attacks, but the New York defense allowed very little space making it an easy job for anyone in net.

Times Observer photo by Christian Storms Eisenhower’s Casey Seymour, center, received the Sportsmanship Award for the Pennsylvania Gold boys team at the NY/PA Corporate Cup Soccer Showcase on Sunday at Pitt-Bradford.

“The defense won us the game,” Deering said. “Kids like Coopers (Freeman and Wilczewski) in the middle, Grey (Kidder), they’re made to get going and get the ball to our attacking players.”

The strong defense from both sides led to a very physical game and the emotions ran quite high with several players earning a yellow card. The win stops recent Pennsylvania momentum, putting the all-time record at 6-3 in favor of New York and the passion from the players showed how important the event has become for both sides.

“It’s awesome, it’s an awesome looking trophy,” Deering said about the showcase. “This is a great event for soccer, I wish more people in the soccer world knew about this. I want this to be celebrated more, because it is our top 40 upper-level high school players. They put in so much work into being this level, I wish more people would come out to this event, cause some chaos and enjoy the environment because it’s a good show.”

The Sportsmanship Award for New York went to Doherty, while Eisenhower’s Seymour was tapped for the honor. The New York MVP was Allegany-Limestone’s Thomas Buffamante and the Pennsylvania honor went to Jacob Alberts of DuBois.

GIRLS GOLD

In the history of the Corporate Cup Soccer Showcase there had never been a complete sweep of Gold and Silver games from either side. After three New York victories, the Gold Girls led by Southwestern head coach Derek Houser had the opportunity in the primetime game to complete the sweep.

After suffering another unfortunate bounce just like the boys that tied the game 1-1, New York regained the lead on a 30-yard strike by Allegany-Limestone’s Abby Peck and never looked back while adding two more tallies at the end of the first half and cruised to a 7-1 victory.

“We knew that going in that every other team won and you don’t want to be the one who drops the ball,” Houser said. “It was pressure and I think they welcomed that pressure. We had a lot of girls from last year and it was kind of a tough loss last year, and I think they really wanted to come out and get a little bit of payback.”

Coordinating club teammates and successful high school chemistry, Houser was gifted with two full units that did not miss a beat during substitutions.

“That really gives you a big advantage,” Houser said about his substitutes. “When you can put on a fresh new set of players and the quality of play didn’t drop at all. We tried to organize the groups kind of with who played together, The Storm Southern Tier group in the first one and Allegany players and some others in the second group.”

In the early part of the game, the ball was magnetically attracted to Maple Grove’s Kylie Kress on the left wing and she was soon rewarded with the first goal of the game in under 10 minutes.

Pennsylvania equalized when Brockway’s Rheanna Spinda capitalized on a goaltending miscue, but that did not change the momentum as the Allegany-Limestone tandem regained the lead on a long goal from Peck.

“We got out to a good start,” Houser stated. “Then we did give up a goal, then within a couple of minutes right back in and then we never looked back.”

New York trailed most of the game last year, rallying back from a 2-0 in the second half, but was unable to ever take the lead. On Sunday, the girls made sure there was not an option for Pennsylvania to rally.

“The start was really the difference,” Houser added. “Last year I think we got in a 2-0 hole if I remember correctly and you have to dig yourself out. When you play really good teams it’s just hard, you can get to 2-2, but to get that third goal is really hard.”

In the 43rd minute, Kress grabbed her second goal of the game which was a tap-in after good pressure on the goalkeeper by Cuba-Rushford’s Cloey Larabee caused a turnover. Then in the extra time, New York managed another when Falconer’s Julianna Roth set up Portville’s Grace Gariepy for a strike and the 4-1 lead heading into halftime.

“These girls played amazing,” Houser said. “I knew they had it in them, but you just never know until the game starts. There’s nerves, there’s all these different elements and they just came out from the first whistle they were ready to go and it never stopped. I couldn’t be more proud of the way they came together.”

The goals just kept coming for New York in the second half, with Larabee registering her first assist on Southwestern’s Marlana Cresanti’s goal and then minutes later Larabee finished off a strike by Kress that hit the post for a 6-1 lead. Allegany-Limestone’s Madison Honeck added the final tally on a shot from distance that squeaked through the Pennsylvania goalkeeper’s hands. The victory for New York has now tied the event at 4-4 for both states.

The Sportsmanship Award for New York went to Pine Valley’s Sarah Kruszka and Pennsylvania’s went to Bradford’s Kierstin Taylor. Larabee was tapped for the New York MVP, while Pennsylvania’s was Brockway’s Zoe Puhala.

NOTES: The New York Silver boys kicked off the day with a 2-0 victory, with second-half tallies coming from Genesee Valley’s Evan Turybury assisted by Bolivar-Richburg’s Landon Barkley, and Barkley, who scored the final goal unassisted. The New York Silver girls were just as dominant as the Gold squad, pulling off a 4-0 victory with two goals by Olean’s Leea Kopp, and one goal each from Wellsville’s Jaden Dunbar and Wellsville’s Emily Stuck.