By PAUL GOTHAM
GENESEO, N.Y. — Gone were the orange-tinted Mohawk-style hairdos donned during the Section V Class B2 championship game.
The winning mindset, though, continued …at least in the second half.
Evan Strauss netted a pair of goals as Livonia (19-1-1) pulled away from a level match at halftime and defeated Section VI champion, Allegany-Limestone (15-3-2), 4-1 in New York State Class B sub-regional action Wednesday at Geneseo High School.
Strauss struck twice in the second half. His first goal gave the Bulldogs a 3-1 advantage with 31:04 left on the clock. The senior center-mid’s second goal put the game out of reach with 12:56 remaining.
Strauss highlighted an effort that saw the Bulldogs put 14 shots on target over the final 40 minutes of play.
“Our mentality was to make sure we had possession and to keep possession to try to wear them down,” said first-year head coach Ryan Humphrey. “Once we could start wearing them down, we knew we were going to get a little press up top, and get some shots off, or at least get some dangerous ones.”
Gavyn Phillips started the scoring after the break connecting at the 38:57 mark of the second half.
“Our goal was to try to get the end line, feed it back in the middle, and that’s how we got two out of our four goals.”
The goal from Phillips ignited the Livonia offense.
“When we looked at that first half, everything was going through the middle, and we were attacking in the middle,” Humphrey said. “We weren’t using our wings enough. Our focus, at halftime, was to make sure, to keep that middle possession, focus on getting those overlapping runs, and we were able to do that to get some guys in here that could really press high. We were able to get their defense crashing, leaving our guys up on the 18 to finish it off.”
Allegany-Limestone’s Collin Coleman converted a penalty kick in the 27th minute to give the Gators a 1-nil lead.
Livonia struggled through the first 40 minutes taking 21 shots but only putting six on frame.
“I don’t know if the boys came in a little overconfident or what, but I’m glad they (Allegany-Limestone) actually put that goal on us because it held us in check,” Humphrey said. “We needed to pick it up a little bit. Definitely a sluggish start. Not our game plan that we anticipated to start with.”
Lincoln Richardson redirected a pass from Phillips to get Livonia on the scoreboard right before halftime.
Allegany-Limestone keeper Donovan Booker made 16 saves.
Livonia will play either Southampton or Chenango Forks. That game is scheduled for Saturday, November at Geneseo High. A 2:30 PM kickoff is scheduled.
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