ARLINGTON — The Garden City field hockey team’s road to a state title came to an end on Saturday.
Garden City fell to Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake (Section II), 1-0, in the state Class B semifinals at Arlington High School. The Trojans finished 16-1.
“Just being here is absolutely incredible,” coach Amanda Lee said. “These girls deserve every ounce of the success they’ve had so far. It took 16 wins to get here and we played a team that we knew was really strong. My girls kept up with them but, at the end of the day it just didn’t go our way.”
The entire first half was a battle in the midfield. Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake earned three penalty corners in the half, but Garden City fended off the opportunities to score.
After earning five penalty corners in the third quarter, the sixth proved fruitful for Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake. Quinn Stowell-Melley sent a pass to Grace Kogut, who was posted on Garden City goalkeeper Shea McGovern’s pads. Kogut rolled out and planted the ball in the right corner to put Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake up, 1-0, with 7:35 remaining in the quarter.
McGovern faced three additional corners in the third quarter, but refused to let the Spartans extend their lead. McGovern tallied eight saves.
“Getting to this point means everything to me,” McGovern said. “I’m so lucky that I have 29 built-in sisters with me and to do this with them is the only way I would want it. We work day in and day out to be here. No one can deny how close we are or the chemistry we have on the field.”
McGovern played a leading role for the Trojans in their defensive corner unit. Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake totaled 16 penalty corners. Lee said holding them to only one goal is a feat that deserves to be recognized.
“We’ve worked really hard on our defensive corners going into this game and [McGovern] really stepped up today,” Lee said. “She made so many great plays and the numbers don’t do her performance justice.”
Junior Grace Brantuk also took the lead on the defensive end. After falling with an ankle injury in the second quarter, Brantuk retook the field a few minutes later. Her strength and size during Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake’s penalty corners helped to keep the deficit at one.
“We knew this team had a lot of amazing shooters, so that’s something we really focused on at practice this week,” Brantuk said. “We stayed composed, communicated in the net and tracked the ball really well.”
Brantuk earned a spot on the All-Tournament team while senior captain Katherine O’Hanlon earned the sportsmanship award.
“Every day this season we went out to practice with the mindset that we need to get back to this field,” Branktuk said. “We worked so hard to put ourselves in this position and I think it really showed today, it just didn’t end the way we wanted it to.”
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