CAMDEN — Section III field hockey champions went two-for-three in sub-regional state playoff games at Camden High School on Thursday, Nov. 6, and advanced to play again Sunday at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill.
Class A Rome Free Academy remains undefeated and advanced for the second year in a row with its 1-0 shutout of Bethlehem.
Class C Little Falls was a 2-1 winner over Greenwich in Thursday’s nightcap.
Defending Class B state champion Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake earned the lone victory for Section II by shutting out Vernon-Verona-Sherrill 3-0.
Sunday’s regional final doubleheader at Sheveron Stadium starts with Rome Free Academy’s game against Section I Mamaroneck, the two-time defending state champion in Class A, and will be followed by Little Falls and Section IX’s Rondout Valley, a state finalist in 2024.
Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake plays its regional final in Glens Falls against Section I Greeley.
Sunday’s regional winners advance to the NYSPHSAA semifinals and finals at Arlington High School next weekend.
The Black Knights ran their record to 18-0-0.
The teams went scoreless for three quarters before eighth-grader Josie Summa broke the deadlock with her ninth goal of the season.
Defensively, the Black Knights shut out their 10th opponent of 2025 with junior goalie Brooke Benson making a season-high 16 saves, surpassing her combined total from the previous four games. Benson’s high had been six in a 4-3 sectional semifinal win over Liverpool.
The win takes Rome Free Academy to a regional final for the second year in a row. Last year, the Black Knights beat Section VI Orchard Park 2-1 in their sub-regional and Section V Fairport 1-0 in the regional final before ending their season with a 4-0 loss to eventual state champion Mamaroneck in the semifinals.
Section I Mamaroneck (15-2-0), also a 2023 state champion has won six consecutive games since an overtime loss to Greenwich at the end of September.
The Mounties scored first and last for their ninth consecutive victory.
“This was our opportunity,” Little Falls junior Mollie Regan said. “We haven’t made it past these couple games in a lot of years.”
Greenwich (11-6-0) came out on the attack early and limited Little Falls (18-2-0) to a single shot in the first half, but that shot resulted in a goal scored by eighth-grader Audrey Bladek with an assist from Jayden Regan with 3:38 remaining in the first quarter.
“That helped us settle down,” Little Falls coach Monica Tooley said, “and I think it caught them off guard.”
The play evened out after that goal, and the teams went to halftime with Little Falls’ Mounties leading 1-0 despite being outshot 4-1 and Greenwich having five penalty corners to none for Little Falls.
A later Greenwich corner eventually tied the score. The Witches played the ball in off the end line and scored with a hard crossing shot from the edge of the circle to goalie Giuliana Izzo’s right side.
Little Falls was awarded its first corner in the first minute of the fourth quarter and scored on its second five minutes later. Adriana Izzo took the initial hit out from Andy-Lynn Podlas and fired her thigh-high shot to the right of the Greenwich goalie and into the net.
Greenwich finished the game with 16 corners, the last one with 1:10 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Witches also had a 5-2 shot advantage; Giuliana Izzo made four saves.
“We put in hard work preparing for this game,” said Giuliana Izzo, another junior and Adriana’s twin sister. “We’re like a sisterhood, like a family; we bond really well (and) what makes fuels this team is the work we put in during the offseason and all coming together.”
The team has also benefited from an ambitious schedule that included wins in three of four games against Class A teams in early season tournaments,
“We prepare to play the best of the best,” Regan said.
Little Falls’ opponent for the regional final in Verona will be Rondout Valley from Section IX, a 6-0 sub-regional winner Wednesday over Section I Bronxville. Rondout Valley (17-1-1).
Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake, the defending Class B state champion, took a step toward returning to Arlington.
The Spartans (17-1-1), from Section II, have two state championships in four years, having previously won in 2021, and are sectional champions for the third consecutive season.
Vernon-Verona-Sherrill’s Red Devils (12-3-0), which had a seven-game win streak snapped, trailed 2-0 at halftime and went scoreless against the Eagles. who have shut out 11 of their last 12 opponents and four in a row.
Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake plats its regional final against Section I champion Horace Greeley from Chappaqua in Glens Falls on Sunday.
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