By: Dylan O'Loughlin
BYRON, NY -- The undefeated Byron-Bergen Bees hosted the Nichols Vikings in inter-sectional action on a chilly Monday night. The Bees' winning streak was officially snapped as a highly defensive battle ended in a double overtime 0-0 tie.
“I thought we played well," Byron-Bergen Bees head coach Wayne Hill said. "We had some good scoring opportunities in the first half, a couple balls that just missed the post, a couple ones that went high. It was a good game for us to learn from, that's why we schedule them."
In the first half, the Bees couldn’t get anything going offensively. The Vikings on the other hand, held possession for most of the first half and had a few shots on goal, but they were all saved by Byron-Bergen senior goalie Natalie Prinzi. Prinzi had 10 saves on the night and now has 42 on the season.
“I have a strong defense in front of me, so they're really able to help me in those situations," Prinzi said. "I think that coming into this game, knowing it was going to be a harder game than our other league games, I came in with more confidence and I'm ready to play."
In the second half, the tide started to turn. Byron-Bergen began to take control of the ball and stay on the offensive side more. They held more possession time than the Vikings in the final 40, but still couldn’t find the back of the net.
The defenses shined throughout as after 80 minutes; it was still 0-0.
In overtime, it was much of the same. Each team got their chances to score but the defense on each side was too much for the Bees and the Vikings. Even though the score says a tie, it was a total team effort on both sides of the ball.
"We are always improving, and we have each other's back," Byron-Bergen freshman defenseman Lucy Rea said.
Even though the Bees couldn’t stay undefeated on the season, they still sit atop of Class C2 with a 12-0-1 record. What’s more important for Byron-Bergen was that this was a learning experience.
“We played them last year, actually we're playing the same non-league schedule we did last year, and the girls realized it had huge value, even though it pushes us to the limits," Hill said. "We went 0-3 in our non-league games last year, so this is an improvement. We tied instead of losing. We'll sit there, look at the film, figure out where we could have made a couple changes, and we'll go from there."
The Byron-Bergen Bees put this game in the rear view as they look ahead to this Wednesday, Oct. 9 as they travel to Lyndonville/Barker. First kick is scheduled for 5 p.m.
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