Lansing 4, Fabius-Pompey 0
Just another blustery November day in Liverpool... except for the fact it was regional day. Fabius-Pompey, ranked #3 in the latest NYSSWA Class C polls, was looking for a berth into the state Final 4, but had 6th ranked Lansing to beat first. This wasn't as much of a "home game" for F-P as most regionals are for the host section - they had a 40-45 minute drive to Liverpool, and Lansing (near Cortland) traveled slightly over an hour. Both teams had a pretty nice crowd on hand - but Lansing gave theirs much more to cheer about.
Lansing tallied early, with a goal scored by Donovan Baird before I arrived in the 12th minute. Fabius-Pompey had a couple somewhat promising opportunities, and kept it on their end for a few minutes, but that was the only sense of control the Falcons would hold all day. Lansing took control of the game and never let go of it. The Bobcats' possession game was too much to handle for the Section III representatives - connecting not 5, not 6, not 7 passes at a time, leading to a spread out D and scoring opportunities. With 15:26 remaining in the 1st half, Lansing's Sam Drake was spoon-fed a pretty cross a few yards away from goal, and he knew what to do with it, putting it in the back of the net. The game went to half with that 2-0 score, and Lansing outshooting F-P 8-2 while I was there.
Fabius-Pompey worked hard in the 2nd half to try & get back into it, but Lansing weathered the early 2nd half storm and started to assert themselves again, although not dominating possession as much. However, any doubt that was in anyone's eyes about this one was eliminated in the 62nd minute. While making a move in a 1 v 1 situation, Lansing's Jason Yahn was taken down well inside the 18. Falcon supporters were incensed by the call, but it looked like a good one from my angle - the foul in the box resulted in a PK for Yahn. He put it through the pipes, giving Lansing a 3-0 lead with 18:48 to play. They tacked on yet another insurance goal with 1:45 remaining, when a pop fly from 20+ yards out deep on the left side by Andy Parks had a little wind support and found its way in the back corner of the net. Lansing controlled every aspect of the game on this day, and brought a 4-0 W to the 607. They outshot Fabius 14-5 in the 67+ minutes I was there. Nate Scalisi had 3 saves for F-P, giving up the 1st 3 goals. The backup goalie didn't have any saves and gave up the weird one. I had Bryce Stanhope with 2 saves on the day for Lansing, who advance to play Williamson, the Section V representative, on Saturday at 5:00 on Middletown's turf field.
#ByTheNumbers - Lansing used a slow, methodical attack to wear down and defeat their opponent. This is shown in the numbers, with it all in favor of Lansing, but relatively low numbers all-around. They outshot F-P 14-5 and forced GK Nate Scalisi to field the ball 7 times, compared to their GK Stanhope only touching the ball 3 times on the day. It was a corner-kick free game for the most part - only 1 each way. The possession game was a killer. Great season to Sect III champs Fabius-Pompey, and best of luck to Sect IV rep Lansing this weekend.
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