One side comes in off a dominant regular season as they attempt to win the first sectional title in school history. The other side is riding a Cinderella run to the finals as they search for their ninth sectional title in the classification that has historically yielded them the best results. It’s Finger Lakes vs. Private/Parochial as Penn Yan and Aquinas square off for the Class B1 title. Here’s the breakdown:
No. 1 seed PENN YAN MUSTANGS
(13-3-2/ Finger Lakes East)
vs.
No. 7 seed AQUINAS LI’L IRISH
(5-12-0/ Private/Parochial)
How they arrived here: After a regular season in which they never went winless in consecutive games, Penn Yan (13-3-2) arrived to sectional play as the No. 1 seed. In the quarterfinal round, Penn Yan defeated No. 8 Midlakes/Red Jacket 5-0 behind a balanced attack that saw four players score goals. In the semi-finals, Penn Yan gave up their first goal in five games, despite this, the Mustangs offensive power was too much as they took down No. 4 Caledonia-Mumford/Le Roy 3-1. Aquinas began its sectional journey on the road against No. 2 Palmyra-Macedon and came away with a 2-0 win. In the semi-finals, the Li’l Irish took down No. 3 Hornell by the same score of 2-0 to advance to the finals.
Total goals scored: Aquinas (22), Penn Yan (44)
Total goals allowed: Aquinas (41), Penn Yan (6)
Trends: Penn Yan comes into this game winners of five in a row, having only given up one goal in that stretch. The Mustangs have recorded 13 shutouts this season and have only allowed more than one goal on one occasion. Offensively, the Mustangs have scored at least three goals in 10 of their games. Aquinas enters this matchup off the back of consecutive 2-0 victories after entering sectional play on a three-game losing streak. The Li’l Irish have shutout their opponent in all five of their victories this season and have only been apart of three games in which both team scored.
Regular Season Meetings: The two sides did not face off in the regular season. Their only common opponent was Naples, who Aquinas fell to 4-0, and Penn Yan split with 2-1 and 0-1, respectively. Aquinas did defeat Pal-Mac, a regular season opponent of Penn Yan, in the sectional quarter finals, 2-0. Penn Yan tied 0-0 in their first meeting with the Red Raiders and won 2-0 the second go around.
Player to watch:
Penn Yan: Cole Branch Sr. M (5 G, 1 A); Alex Leisner Sr. M (5 G, 10 A); Wilson Oliva (12 G, 3 A); Valerio Burgos-Farnan Jr. F (6 G, 7 A); Carter MacKerchar Sr. G (13 shutouts)
Aquinas: Marco Tata Sr. F (12 G, 2 A); Gavin White Fr. M (2 G, 1 A); Ryan Simonds Jr. D (1 A); Matteo Fallone So. M (1 G, 1 A); Dom Angelo So. D (1 G, 1 A); Finnian Schlia Sr. G (0 goals conceded in sectionals)
Coaches: Jason Hassos (Penn Yan), Konrad Zydowicz (Aquinas)
History 101: Aquinas has won eight Section V championships and is looking for its first since 2023 when they defeated Pittsford Sutherland 2-0 and went on to win the New York State title as a member of Class A. Aquinas has won six of their eight titles competing in Class B, notably winning four in a row from 2000-03. The Li’l Irish also won the NYS title in ’00, ’03, and ’06 in Class B. Penn Yan is in the finals for the first time since 2022 as they look to win their first ever sectional title. In 2022, the Mustangs entered the finals as the No. 2 seed riding consecutive clean sheets but fell to No. 1 Bishop Kearney 2-1 in overtime.
What’s at stake: A spot in the Section V Class B playoff against the Class B2 champion
Kickoff is scheduled for Wednesday, October 28th at 5 p.m. at Dansville High School.
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