Akron tops Barker for Class C title

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Barker’s Lydia Dewart, left, drives the ball up field as Abby Stone defends for Akron. The action took place during Akron’s Class C title victory this afternoon at Amherst. Following the play is Barker’s Madison Greenwald.

A long drought and a long reign both came to an end this afternoon as Akron defeated rival Barker 3-1 in the Section VI Class C field hockey championship game at Amherst.

The victory earned Akron its first sectional championship in 20 years and also snapped Barker’s string of seven straight Class C titles. Six of those Lady Raiders’ title wins came over the Lady Tigers.

Akron’s last sectional title came in 1995 when the Lady Tigers ironically nipped Barker 1-0 in the Class C final.

“We played incredibly tough,” said Akron Coach Mary Borden.

Breaking away from a scoreless deadlock, Akron took the lead for good when Heather Cummings scored just 55 seconds into the second half off an assist from Sarah Schultz.

The Lady Tigers then capitalized on a corner opportunity to score again just nine minutes later as Lilyanna Berghorn tallied to make it 2-0.

Battling to get back in the game, Barker then had four corner opportunities over the next eight minutes but could not capitalize.

Barker’s Madison Greenwald (18) tries to keep control of the ball from Akron’s Heather Cummings (12).

Akron put a lock on the victory when Berghorn scored again with just 9:03 remaining to give the Lady Tigers a commanding 3-0 lead.

Barker missed on three more corner opportunities before finally scoring on a goal by Lydia Dewart with only 3:10 remaining.

Akron, which split a pair of meetings with Barker during the Niagara-Orleans League season, next faces Section V representative East Rochester in the Far West Regional on Saturday at Amherst.

Akron, which claimed the N-O title with an 11-1 record, advanced to the finals by blanking Medina 5-0 in the quarterfinals and Eden 2-0 in the semifinals.

Barker, which had captured the Class C title 11 of the previous 13 years, shutout Holland in the quarterfinals and Wilson in the semis by the identical score of 3-0. Eight of the Lady Raiders title wins during that stretch came over Akron, two over Holland and one over Eden.