BUFFALO — Grand Island hadn’t scored fewer than seven goals in a game this season entering Thursday’s sectional championship.
Unfortunately, their high-scoring attack went cold at the worst possible time.The top-seeded Vikings fell 4-2 to No. 2 Hamburg in a low-scoring Section VI Class C title game at All High Stadium.
“Hamburg, they prepared well,” Grand Island head coach Andrew Williams said. “They knew what we wanted to do, and their goalie (Zach Smith) played outstanding.”
After totaling 17 and 15 goals in their first two meetings, Hamburg (13-5) and Grand Island (15-3) weren’t anywhere near that level of attacking output Thursday.
Neither team could find the back of the net in the first quarter, and it wasn’t until Jimmy Lavelle opened the scoring for the Bulldogs just over four minutes into the second quarter. The score stayed 1-0 Hamburg at halftime, marking the first time the Vikings were shut out in a half all season.
The matchup had a methodical, slow-paced feel to it for much of the evening, and while Grand Island’s attack struggled, its defense stood tall to keep things close.
“I’m proud of the hustle,” Williams said of his defenders. “We’ve got a young defensive group and a senior goalie, and they’ve played very well all season long. They take a lot of pride in being physical and in on ball matchups. They come through when it counts.”
It wasn’t until just past halfway through the third quarter that Grand Island got on the board thanks to leading scorer Nik Korte, whose 50th tally on the year knotted the game up 1-1.
Right when it felt like the Vikings had some momentum, Alex Ricotta scored for Hamburg three minutes later with a close-range finish just before he was knocked to the turf. Two more unanswered goals in the fourth quarter from Dylan Jagow and Noah Nahrebeski, who cruised 60 yards down field from his defensive position before finishing off Hamburg’s fourth, put the game out of Grand Island’s reach.
“Some games are high scoring, some games are low scoring,” Williams said. “Both of our goalies were playing, they weren’t getting many shots in the beginning and then they got a couple to stick.”
The Vikings nabbed a consolation prize late, with senior Zach Bridenbaker tallying the final goal of his high school career on an assist from Korte to round out the scoring.
“The seniors are just outstanding,” Williams said. “I’m very thankful to have had them. A lot of them I coached on modified and then came up to varsity. They love lacrosse and they battled their hearts out.”
Hamburg advances to the Far West Regionals where they’ll play the Section V Class C champions at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Canandaigua High School. The win gave the Bulldogs their first sectional title since 2022, which was their final in a run of 12 consecutive championships.