Milford struck down in state quarterfinal

The Section Four champion Wildcats fell, 2-1 in overtime, to McGraw in a Class D state quarterfinal that featured a rain-soaked first half and a halftime lightning strike that postponed the game for 30 minutes.
The Daily Star Online
Contributed photo by Cheryl Clough Milford’s Chandler Prouty chases Jennifer Rutan of McGraw during Saturday’s Class D state quarterfinal at Chittenango High. Rutan and Prouty both scored in McGraw’s 2-1 overtime win.

Freshman Emily Williams struck Milford down in the first of two mandatory, 10-minute overtimes with a sinker that bounced once on the slick, artificial turf and skipped past diving goalie Chynna Pitlock. Shannon O’Hara earned an assist on the play, which broke a 1-1 tie and led the Eagles (20-0-1) to a state semifinal against Section Five power Arkport on Friday at Cortland State.

"I think the combination of the long delay and this surface was our downfall," said Lorin Campbell, who made the first state-tournament appearance of his 14 seasons as the Wildcats’ head coach Saturday. "There are no excuses, and what I’m most proud of is this team never gave up. McGraw has better team speed and they are physically stronger than us, but we kept fighting right to the last second."

Milford came out swinging, too.

Chandler Prouty gave the Wildcats (19-2-2) a 1-0 lead with an unassisted goal 1 minute, 55 seconds into the quarterfinal. Milford dominated play for the rest of the half but lost momentum after the long break at intermission. McGraw senior Jen Rutan, who moved from midfield to forward after halftime, scored less than three minutes after play resumed to tie it.

"I’ve been slow to make that move in the past, and I just decided to go for it right away," McGraw coach John Rutan said of sliding his daughter up on offense. "Two years ago, we were down, 3-1, to Davenport in this game and we came back. I told them at halftime that this year, all we needed was one goal."

McGraw, which won the Class D state title in 2004, played with the wind at its back during the second half. That allowed the Eagles to keep the ball in Milford’s end for the first 20 minutes of the second half.[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Milford withstood six McGraw scoring chances before the wind died down, and the Wildcats soon started penetrating the other end of the field.

"We survived," Campbell said. "My defense was very gritty."

Junior forward Maria Arnot had Milford’s best chance to go ahead in regulation, taking a 30-yard throughball from sophomore teammate Emily Brigham in for a 1-on-1 with McGraw goalie Chelsea Hayes. The speedy Arnot, a second-team all-state selection last season, wheeled to her right and beat a defender down the sideline before slipping a shot to the far post. Hayes missed with a dive left, but the ball rolled wide with a little more than nine minutes left in regulation.

McGraw 2, Milford 1 (OT)

CLASS D STATE QUARTERFINAL

Saturday at Chittenango High

Number before team indicates section

Milford 1 0 0 0 _ 1

McGraw 0 1 1 0 _ 2

4-Milford (19-2-2): Chandler Prouty 1-0.

3-McGraw (20-0-1): Jen Rutan 1-0, Emily Williams 1-0, Shannon O’Hara 0-1.

Shots-corner kicks: Milford 8-3; McGraw 13-5.

Goalies: Chynna Pitlock (Milford) 5; Chelsea Hayes (McGraw) 5.