Penn Yan advances to state championship with overtime goal

CICERO-The Penn Yan boys varsity lacrosse team advanced to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association finals after beating Cazenovia in sudden-death overtime during the state semifinals, Wednesday, June 8.
Cazenovia, the Section III Class C champion, fell to Penn Yan, 11-10. The win was secured by Tate Stewart, assisted by Craig Gerhardt, in overtime.
At halftime the score was 8-3, Penn Yan. However, Cazenovia steadily chipped away at the Mustangs' early lead in the second half. With seven minutes left in the game, Cazenovia had a one goal lead, 10-9. Sean Emerson responded five minutes later tying the score at 10-10 before going into overtime.
"We have tough kids. It's a veteran group," said Coach Brian Hobart. "There was no doubt, nobody panicked. We were just going to keep playing. We preach: if we keep playing hard, good things are going to happen and they did."
Craig Gerhardt and Austin Fingar both scored three goals, with two assists. Sean Emerson also added three goals. Tate Stewart recorded one goal, the game winner, and one assist. Conner Fingar also scored once.
"We were awesome the first half. Everything was going well," said Stewart. "It means a lot when we can come back and put one in after we hadn't been playing well the second half."
Penn Yan's record is 17-2 going into the state championship game, Saturday, June 11. They play Cold Spring Harbor at 1:30 p.m. for the state title at Middletown high school.