Oct 27, 2022 OBSERVER Photos by Jason Bower……

Oct 27, 2022 OBSERVER Photos by Jason Bower Fredonia’s Annie Gondek (4) is hugged by teammates Gigi Ferro (17) and Claire Marshall, right, after scoring her second goal during Wednesday’s Section VI Class B2 semifinal against Akron at Sweet Home High School.

AMHERST , A year ago, Fredonia’s girls soccer team won a Section VI Class B2 title, but was denied a chance to move on to the Class B crossover game when it lost on penalty kicks to Royalton-Hartland.

Now, the third-seeded Hillbillies are right back in that same spot with a shot at redemption.

Annie Gondek scored a goal in each half and goalkeeper Sarah Davis turned in a clean sheet as Fredonia beat No. 7 Akron 2-0 in a Class B2 semifinal Wednesday at Sweet Home High School.

Next up for the Hillbillies is a 6 p.m.

Saturday matchup with No. 5 Allegany-Limestone.

The Gators beat top-seeded Royalton-Hartland on penalty kicks after a 0-0 draw in Wednesday’s second semifinal. “Allegany-Limestone is a tough team.

Every single time it’s a battle,” Gondek said of the Gators, who split a pair of 1-0 regular-season Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association matchups with the Hillbillies. “Allegany-Limestone is personal. … We beat them, they beat us.

It’s back and forth.” OBSERVER Photo by Jason Bower Fredonia’s Sarah Davis makes a save.

Throughout the past couple of weeks, Fredonia head coach Dan Tomaszewski has been preaching to his team to “play the mistakes” as the regular season wound down.

The Hillbillies did exactly that Wednesday.

In the 31st minute of the first half, Rylee Beers sent a left-footed pass up the middle of the pitch that skipped off the wet turf and past an Akron defender. “If there is a ball in the air that they have to worry about bringing down to their feet, we try to press,” Tomaszewski said. “Hopefully the pressure forces an error and we get it from there.” Gondek was the beneficiary as she took possession and one long dribble before beating the Tigers keeper for a 1-0 lead. “One of the things we strive for is just making sure we play the mistake because that can obviously lead to goals,” Gondek said. “She was in an athletic stance and I knew I had to play into the corner or she was going to pick it up.” Davis made her best save of the first half in the 35th minute when Akron’s Katie Leeds got free behind Fredonia’s defense, but Davis came out to cut down Leeds’ angle before making a point-blank save to keep the game 1-0. “We started slow.

They were definitely the more aggressive team and beating us to 50-50 balls,” Tomaszewski said. “It took us a little bit of time to get us up to that style of play and the speed of the game.” The Tigers’ best opportunity to tie the game after halftime came in the 58th minute as Sophia Janik raced down the right wing and had a step on her defender, but Davis played the angle perfectly again and made a save on Janik’s right-footed attempt. “I don’t know what to say about Sarah Davis.

She has never played soccer before.

She was a volleyball player that wanted to give soccer a try,” Tomaszewski said. “She just works hard.

She’s very coachable and very intelligent.” Less than four minutes later, the Hillbillies created some breathing room.

Callie Draggett possessed the ball along the sideline and then dropped a pass to Gondek.

Fredonia’s leading scorer appeared to attempt a cross into the 18-yard box, but the ball went toward the Akron net, and fooled the Tigers’ keeper, skipping over her head into the net for Gondek’s second goal of the night and team-best 16th of the season. “I was trying to cross it,” Gondek said. “It turned out in my favor.

That’s how the game works sometimes.” “With the rain, turf tends to skip and it doesn’t necessarily bounce quite on the same trajectory,” Tomaszewski said. “It’s tricky playing conditions.” Davis punctuated her night when Janik got free again in the 75th minute.

The first-year keeper timed her challenge just right to catch Janik in between dribbles and rushed toward the Akron senior to meet her just as she shot.

The ball deflected off Davis toward the edge of the Hillbillies’ 18-yard box and was eventually cleared to safety by a Fredonia teammate. “Annie scored that breakaway goal and at halftime, Sarah asked how she should play that if something like that happened,” Tomaszewski said. “We talked about it.

She came out and did her job.” Now the Hillbillies will look to get in two good days of practice before playing for the fifth sectional crown in program history back at Sweet Home High School. “Regardless of who we get, we know we have to work hard these next two days,” Tomaszewski said. “Our first goal is to win our division. … Our second goal is the blue patch.

It’s bittersweet because we were right there on the cusp and it came down to PKs.

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