Barker to face familiar foe in field hockey regional Monday

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Barker’s Erin Greenwald (1) and her Lady Raider teammates will face East Rochester in the Class C Far West Regional on Monday evening at Webster Schroeder High School.

Just as was the case in the Section VI final this past week, Barker will face a very familiar foe in the Class C Far West Regional field hockey game on Monday.

This past Thursday Barker bested Niagara-Orleans League foe Akron for the Section VI Class C field hockey title for the sixth time in the last seven years by a 2-1 margin.

Now Barker will take on East Rochester for the seventh straight year for the Class C Far West Regional title at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Webster Schroeder High School. The winner will advance to the state semifinals.

Barker has bested East Rochester each of the last two years by narrow margin of 1-0 last year and 2-0 in 2012 to even the series over the past six years at 3-3.

“There is a lot of history there,” said Barker Coach Jeff Costello. “They had our number for a long time but for the last few years its been better for us.”

Gabby Clare has 17 goals and 13 assists, Melissa Grosshans 14 goals and Erin Greenwald 12 goals to lead the Barker attack which also had Rebecca Stoloski with 8 goals, Madison Greenwald 7 and Elizabeth Luckman 6.

“We have to be aware that they have a lot of skill and ability. They are a turf team so we have to make sure our defense is where we should be,” said Costello.”Last year we won but then lost in the state semifinals in overtime so we have to win to get a crack again at getting to the state finals. We need to have everybody to play hard from the get go and getting the first goal would be big to build that confidence.”

Barker, which has won seven straight Section VI titles, brings a 16-0-1 season record into the regional while East Rochester is 11-4-2.