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By Jaclynkelli Kronemberg
TopLaxRecruits.com, Posted 6/7/15
VESTAL, N.Y. – Aidan O’Brien tallied five goals and MVP Nick Testa grabbed 17 saves to lift Niskayuna to a 13-10 win Saturday over West Genesee in the New York State Class A Championship at Vestal High.
This was Niskayuna’s first state title for a program that started in 1994. It also the first state championship for a Section 2 team.
Niskayuna celebrates its first state title
Niskayuna (21-2) closed the year with 15 straight wins and prevented West Genesee (18-3) from winning its 16th state title.
“I am speechless,” said O’Brien. “This is a dream come true. This is our fourth time being here as a program and we wanted to win this for our coach (Mike Vorgang), for the town and for our team.
“I’ve been playing with these kids for 10 years now and I couldn’t ask for a better ending to my Niskayuna career. We got a little sloppy at the end but we finished the game and we won. I’m ecstatic right now.”
Niskayuna outscored the Wildcats in each period and led, 8-6, in a high-scoring first half. West Genesee cut the lead to one early the third quarter, but John Prendergast (four goals), Lucas Quinn (three goals), Prendergast and O’Brien scored in succession to put the Silver warriors in control.
“We went into this game pretty confident, knowing what they were going to do,” said Testa. “So we just had to execute our game plan. I just got into a rhythm and kept going with it.
“After I made the first two saves I tried to use the momentum off the next one. We were just trying to hold them to one goal every quarter. This is unbelievable.”
John Prendergast tallied four goals and one assist and Lucas Quinn tallied three goals for Niskayuna.
“I thought the game was kind of wild, the ball was all over the place,” said Vorgang. “Our kids responded pretty well to the craziness of the game and eventually matched the energy and scored more goals then they did.
Nick Testa
“They put us into tough situations on the rides and they cleared the ball effectively. But we scored more goals then they did so that’s good. Our defense was great and our goalie was even better. This feels great. For us it has been since 1994 when the program started. It is a great honor to be here.”
Nick Cunningham tallied two goals and one assist and Conor Bartlett and David Procopio both tallied two goals each for West Genesee.
“That was a good fun game,” said West Genesee head coach Mike Messere. “It went well. We kept playing back but they were just a little too much for us. Their goalie made some great saves when he had to make it and that made the difference.”
Niskayuna 13, West Genesee 10
N: 5-3-3-2-13
WG: 4-2-1-3-10
N: Aidan O’Brien 5G; John Prendergast 4G, 1A; Lucas Quinn 3G; James Sexton 1G
WG: Nick Cunningham 2G, 1A; Conor Bartlett 2G; David Procopio 2G; Ryan McDonald 1G; Matt McDonald 1G; Tyler Shoults 1G; Ryan Smith 1G; Derek Farrell 2A; Jake McCarthy 1A
Saves: Nick Testa (N) 17; Nick O’Neill (WG) 8
Scoring Summary:
No. Prd Time Team Type Goal Scorer Assist Home-Vis
1. 1st 11:44 NISK E v e n John Prendergast (1) Unassisted 0-1
2. 11:31 WG E v e n Matt McDonald (1) Nick Cunningham (1) 1-1
3. 10:33 WG E v e n Tyler Shoults (1) Unassisted 2-1
4. 9 : 1 6 NISK U P Lucas Quinn (1) Unassisted 2-2
5. 9 : 0 2 WG E v e n David Procopio (1) Unassisted 3-2
6. 7 : 2 1 NISK E v e n Aidan O’Brien (1) Unassisted 3-3
7. 6 : 2 3 WG E v e n Nick Cunningham (1) Unassisted 4-3
8. 3 : 2 6 NISK E v e n James Sexton (1) Unassisted 4-4
9. 2 : 4 5 NISK E v e n Lucas Quinn (2) Unassisted 4-5
10. 2nd 9 : 2 0 NISK E v e n Aidan O’Brien (2) Unassisted 4-6
11. 8 : 5 0 WG E v e n Ryan Smith (1) Derek Farrell (1) 5-6
12. 6 : 2 4 NISK E v e n Aidan O’Brien (3) Unassisted 5-7
13. 1 : 1 0 NISK E v e n Aidan O’Brien (4) John Prendergast (1) 5-8
14. 0 : 0 2 WG E v e n David Procopio (2) Unassisted 6-8
15. 3rd 10:20 WG E v e n Ryan McDonald (1) Unassisted 7-8
16. 9 : 1 1 NISK E v e n John Prendergast (2) Unassisted 7-9
17. 3 : 4 7 NISK E v e n Lucas Quinn (3) Unassisted 7-10
18. 3 : 3 3 NISK E v e n John Prendergast (3) Unassisted 7-11
19. 4th 9 : 3 5 NISK E v e n Aidan O’Brien (5) Unassisted 7-12
20. 8 : 3 2 WG E v e n Conor Bartlett (1) Derek Farrell (2) 8-12
21. 7 : 4 6 NISK E v e n John Prendergast (4) Unassisted 8-13
22. 7 : 1 9 WG E v e n Nick Cunningham (2) Jake McCarthy (1) 9-13
23. 4 : 0 6 WG E v e n Conor Bartlett (2) Unassisted 10-13
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