SECTION IV FIELD HOCKEY: SVEC DEFEATS SIDNEY TO QUALIFY FOR SECTIONALS (2025-10-16)

By TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
SPENCER — Spencer-Van Etten/ Candor came into Thursday's regular season finale needing a win over Sidney to qualify for the Section IV Class C field hockey playoffs.

“It was a total team effort,” coach Abby Gentile said. “I think everybody, when they needed to, they stepped up.”

The Eagles put the pressure on early, scoring in the first minute of action, but would need to regroup in the fourth quarter to pull off a 3-1 victory.

Kendall Gentile found the back of the cage 70 seconds into the final frame to give SVEC the game-winning goal and a 2-1 advantage.

Maddy Gentile followed with an insurance goal with 4:52 remaining to secure the team’s spot in the postseason.

“We controlled the ball, we controlled possession, we were able to kind of put it where we needed to and where we wanted to at times tonight, which was really great,” coach Gentile said. “And even some of these ones that we didn't necessarily score on, I felt like we were doing the right thing. It's just that last piece that we're working on, but seeing their positioning and their passing in these different angles is very, it warms my heart.”

Kendall Gentile also scored the game's initial goal, putting away a shot with just 23 ticks off the first-quarter clock.

SVEC looked primed to build on that early advantage but met some tough opposition from the Sabers’ defense. Goalie Lukas Goodspeed turned away several Eagles scoring attempts near the midway point of the opening period, then rejected another late surge in the final minutes of the first.

The second quarter was relatively quiet at both ends of the field, but Sidney stepped it up to open the second half and evened things up at 9:49 of the third period. SVEC goalie Sophia Sunday rejected a shot on a penalty corner, but 8th-grader Onaka Stanton-Helms lifted a rebound shot into the cage to make it a 1-1 deadlock.

Possession was clearly in the Eagles’ favor the majority of the game as they took 22 shots to Sidney’s three. SVEC also had nine penalty corner opportunities to the Sabers’ two.

Goodspeed collected 19 saves while Sunday made two.

“Our goalie had a couple of big saves,” coach Gentile said. “She wasn't tested a ton tonight but she had to step up and make some saves when she was.

“Same thing with defense. Sidney has a lot of speed and so when they were coming down the field the defense had to step up, stop that ball, meanwhile recover back because they were fast. They were big and strong, and fast.”

SVEC (7-9) awaits the sectional tournament pairings.

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IN PHOTO 1: Megan Williamson. IN TOP PHOTO: Maddy Gentile (L) and Hayden Gehres (R). … PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.

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