GREENE – Greene has played field hockey in the land of giants for a long, long time, and has done so successfully. The Trojans, perhaps one-fifth the enrollment size of their next opponent, continues their quest for a second straight New York State Class A title when they face Section II’s Shenendehowa Saturday afternoon at 5:30 p.m.
Shenendehowa won a 3-2 overtime contest over rival Niskayuna to reach this point, and will have the home-field advantage as it will play on its home field. “I’m sure (playing at home) will be helpful to them, but we’re not worried about that,” said Greene coach Sue Carlin, who has guided Greene to a pair of state titles.
A long time ago, Greene’s retired hall of fame coach, Nancy Bromley, thought it was in the best interest of Section IV field hockey to move up in classification. That switch hasn’t slowed the program a bit, particularly the last five seasons – all sectional crowns for Greene.
“Vestal is the only Class A school, and I don’t think Nancy thought it was good from (Vestal) to have a free trip into the state tournament,” Carlin said. “It was more advantageous for the section to have that competition.”
Greene (17-0) remained unbeaten on the season beating the Golden Bears 2-0 a week ago for the A title, and followed up that victory with a 1-0 overtime win over Baldwinsville Tuesday night to keep the season going.
Carlin admits she doesn’t know much about her next opponent other than the Plainsmen have shown a high efficiency in converting penalty corners. Shenendehowa gave up a 2-0 lead to Niskayuna, but in seven-versus-seven overtime, converted a penalty corner into a goal on a deflected shot.
Carlin said her team has prepared its penalty corner defense, and will likely be buoyed by the return of leading scorer Jahna Driscoll. Driscoll missed most of the sectional final game with Vestal after she was struck in the mouth by a free hit, and sat out all of Tuesday’s victory. “She’s looking better and the swelling is going down,” Carlin said of Driscoll. “She’s trying to find a face mask that she is comfortable with and is okay to wear.”
Driscoll’s absence forced a lineup shuffle, one that pushed senior Andrea Day into the middle of the field. Day, a four-year starter, scored the winning goal against Baldwinsville on a perfectly placed shot. “Andrea’s been through a lot of pressure games,” Carlin said. “She’s a senior captain, and if you’re to draw up a play for someone to take the last shot, like basketball, Andrea would be the one you want to take it.”
Saturday’s winner will move on to the state semifinals next weekend at Cicero-North Syracuse High School, and although Greene hasn’t lost a game in two years, keeping the winning streak alive is not the team’s goal.  “We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished, but that’s not our goal,” Carlin said. “Our goal is to go 1-0 every game, and go from there. If we’re able to win games along the way, great, we’ve worked hard for it.”