Sports
Mid-Fairfield Connecticut U-14 Stars Reach Championship Game In Tier 1 Youth Hockey National Championship
Chaterine Crawley scores in double overtime to lift the Stars to a 5-4 semifinal victory over the Buffalo Bisons and a spot in Sunday's title game against Assabet Valley
Chaterine Crawley scored with 5:42 remaining in double overtime Saturday, lifting the Mid-Fairfield Connecticut Stars U-14 girls hockey team to a dramatic 5-4 victory over the Buffalo Bisons in the semifinals of the tier 1 national championship in Rochester, Mich.
It was the fourth goal of the day for Crawley, who scored twice in Mid-Fairfield's 5-3 quarterfinal win over the New Jersey Colonials earlier Saturday and two more against the Bisons.
The two victories lifted the Stars (45-6) into Sunday's championship game against Assabet Valley (11 a.m.), which defeated Mid-Fairfield in a shootout in pool play on Thursday.
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The Connecticut Stars U-12 team was eliminated Saturday morning with a 3-2 quarterfinal loss to the Chicago Young Americans, who scored the winning goal with just under 10 minutes remaining in the third period.
Gillis Frechette and Kate Paliotta tallied in the first period to give Mid-Fairfield a 2-0 lead and Courtney DeNault made 35 saves to keep her team in the game.
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Katelyn Pantera, Ashley Carbone and Katherine Savage also scored for the U-14 team against New Jersey, which grabbed a 2-1 lead after the first period.
However, Mid-Fairfield took control in the second period on consecutive goals by Pantera, Carbone and Savage. Crawley then tallied her second of the game with 9:40 left in the third to give the Stars a two-goal margin.
Emma Farrell finished with 11 saves.
In the semifinals, the Bisons rallied from a two-goal deficit in the final 73 seconds of the third period to force overtime, but Farrell made six of her 31 saves in the first extra period, when the Star were outshot, 6-0.
Tiana Cass also recorded two goals for Mid-Fairfield, giving her team a 3-1 lead after the second period. Savage scored with 2:37 left in regulation to make it 4-2 and seemingly put away the contest.
Crawley's game-winner was Mid-Fairfield's only shot in either overtime period.
Assabet Valley advanced to the championship with a 4-0 semifinal victory over the Chicago Young Americans. Earlier, it defeated Syracuse 9-0 in the quarterfinals.
