WALKILL –– It was a calm and cool Tuesday evening under the lights in Wallkill for the Sectional Championship game between the Eldred Yellowjackets and the Livingston Manor Wildcats. Manor was able to pull off a tough 2-0 victory to send them to the Regional Championships. It was a fated matchup with Manor as the favored team having won twice over Eldred earlier in the regular season. Eldred certainly came to play but couldn’t overcome the Wildcats’ dominance.  

The first half kicked off with Manor playing aggressive and fast. The took ball possession and held onto it for the majority of the half. Rebecca Gashinski and and Kelsey Ryder both coming close to scoring multiple times. 

The Wildcats were getting many more goal opportunities than Eldred but #7 of the Yellowjackets did get a few good attempts in. Eventually Manor’s shooting streak paid off with Gashinski sink a goal into the lower left corner of Eldred’s net to put Manor up 1-0 with 9 minutes left in the half. The Wildcats’ defense ensured the score remained at that into halftime. 

Eldred wasn’t giving up though and came out very strong in the second half. It was almost like we were seeing a whole new version of the Yellowjackets firing on all cylinders. Gone was Manor’s easy dominance, in the second half the game became a battle. Both defenses were shining with multiple steals and pass interceptions on both sides of the field. 

Each team came very close to scoring many times but the goalies were on excellent display all around. But Eldred just couldn’t catch up to Manor’s first half performance. Late in the half Kelsey Ryder of the Wildcats picked up a red card for some rough play and that certainly hurt Manor but they didn’t let it show. 

With 10 minutes left in the half Gashinski scored again off a penalty kick to seal the deal. The Sectional Championship game ended in a 2-0 win for Livingston Manor who went on to play Northville Central in the Regional Championship game the following week. 

When asked about the game and their respective seasons both coaches had a lot to say. Eldred coach Kevin Moscatiello commented, “It was a tough battle, very physical back and forth. They capitalized on a direct kick and that definitely hurt us. We had some great saves and plays but ultimately couldn’t find the net and you gotta score to win. 

Next season we’re looking to build on what we did this season, we have a lot of returning players and I think we are gonna have a great foundation to go off with a bunch of seniors. We are all very excited for the future.” Manor coach Joe Clarke had this to say after their win, “These guys prepared so hard all week and they fought really hard even though we went down a man (due to the red card). 

We took every possession like it was our last and they played like champions today. We have a couple days to get ready for the next game and we are just gonna play hard and put our best foot forward like any other game.”