NY State Quarterfinals – Victor 3, Ithaca 2

Victor has made it on through to the state semifinals defeating Ithaca 3-2 on Saturday night at Cornell’s Lynah Rink (http://pointstreak.com/prostats/gamesheet_full.html?gameid=3298828). Though never behind in the game, Victor could not shake Ithaca as goals went back and forth. Victor opened the scoring midway through the first period on Lukas Miller’s power play goal. It was a beautiful pass from Alex Hernandez that found Lukas alone on the far side of the net – he buried it to put Victor up 1-0.  Ithaca evened it up late, scoring off a breakaway to close out the period 1-1. Victor started strong in the second as Andrew Crean through a backhand at the net, the puck deflected off of Sam Lambert’s skate and ended up in goal 20 seconds into the period. Again, Ithaca battled back to tie it at 2 midway through the period, scoring off a scramble in front of goaltender Chayse Ierlan that Victor just couldn’t clear. End of 2, 2-2.  Victor dominated play in the third, but couldn’t break through until Tony Prem’s high wrist shot from the point beat the keeper with a little under 9 minutes remaining. Victor didn’t sit back as they continued to pressure Ithaca but couldn’t put another past the Ithaca goalie. Despite this strong play, Chayse Ierlan had to turn away a couple of good Ithaca scoring chances as Ithaca mounted pressure with their goalie pulled. Victor (20-0-4) closed it out and will go on to play Massena (12-6-2) in the state semifinal on Saturday, March 10 at 11:45 at Harbor Center in Buffalo.