Frewsburg's Gracie Conlan is fouled by Holley's Emma Brady as the Hawks' Hanna Ostrom also gets involved during Saturday's Class C Far West Regional at Caledonia-Mumford High School's Hamilton Field. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

CALEDONIA – Frewsburg’s girls were back in a familiar spot Saturday evening.

The Bears were playing in their fourth consecutive Class C Far West Regional.

And this time, Scott Stone felt like his team was going to get over the hump.

It was not meant to be.

Holley’s Samantha Bates scored the game’s only two goals as the Hawks advanced to the first New York State Public High School Athletic Association final four in the program’s history with a 2-0 shutout of Frewsburg.

Frewsburg's Ava Jimerson shields Holley's Leigha Walker from the ball on a throw-in along the sideline during Saturday's Class C Far West Regional at Caledonia-Mumford High School's Hamilton Field. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

“I honestly don’t even know what to say. It’s amazing. This is the super-big cherry on top,” Holley head coach Renee Wolf said. “I knew that they could do it, it was just that they had to believe that they could do it. I have a bunch of girls here who believed they could definitely do it.”

The Bears, winners of seven Section VI championships, have now advanced past the regional round just once in six tries. In 2009, they lost in the state semifinals and in 2020, the state playoffs were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“No matter what, we come up here to win,” Stone said. “Our goal from the beginning of the year is to win the state championship and we fell short. We’re all feeling that right now.”

Frewsburg was already behind the 8-ball entering Saturday’s game at Caledonia-Mumford High School’s Hamilton Field, having lost three starters – senior Aleah Bjork and freshmen Jadyn Trocki and Audrey Eckwahl – to injuries following a physical sectional championship game against Wilson last weekend.

“You want to be at full strength, but we don’t want to start making excuses,” Stone said. “We have 23 players on this roster and the girls who stepped up in their spots were more than capable of getting it done. It just didn’t go our way.”

Frewsburg's Corinne McLaughlin makes a sliding attempt to send the ball up the sideline away from Holley's Mia Thom during Saturday's Class C Far West Regional at Caledonia-Mumford High School's Hamilton Field. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

The Bears’ offensive chances were limited all evening against Holley, which upset two-time defending Section V champion Byron-Bergen in their Class C crossover game in the middle of the week.

“We were the underdog against Bergen. Nobody expected us to come out on top,” Wolf said. “I think we came in here and maybe people thought we were a little bit on the underdog side because Frewsburg has been here.”

The Hawks built all the confidence they would need Saturday with an early goal.

A ball was lofted into the 18-yard box before Holley eighth-grader Hanna Ostrom settled it with her chest onto the foot of Bates. Entering the game with a 29 goals on the season, Bates shot high into the Frewsburg goal past eighth-grader keeper Elysse Gruber.

“It seemed like we were all in good position and the ball just kind of made its way to her feet,” Stone said. ” … When she gets the ball alone like that she’s going to finish it. A little collapse, but we knew they were going to get one.”

Frewsburg's Molly Spontaneo heads a ball to safety off a Holley corner kick during the second half of Saturday's Class C Far West Regional at Caledonia-Mumford High School's Hamilton Field. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

That 1-0 lead would stand for 69 minutes.

“Sometimes we have to have that feel-good goal in order to keep pushing super hard. They did that,” Wolf said. ” … I think that they really want it. That’s their drive and I’m super proud of them.”

The Hawks were more effective at stringing passes together throughout the game, but had a hard time finding a final effective strike thanks to Frewsburg seniors Addison Hultberg, Gracie Conlan and Molly Spontaneo, who were joined by junior Kaylee Cappa on the back line.

“A lot of people didn’t believe in this team. We lost a couple of games we didn’t think we should’ve lost,” Stone said. ” … This team never wavered. They’re just a team of fighters.”

The Bears were able to win multiple corner kicks in the middle of the second half, but were unable to connect for a tying goal.

“We felt like we got some offense late in the game. … We wanted a couple of corners and a couple of chances,” Stone said. “They are really good in the air, credit to them.”

As the clock ticked under 10 minutes, Holley began controlling possession and won three corner kicks of its own that wasted more than two minutes of potential comeback time for the Bears.

“We’ve seen a lot of games where it’s transitioned pretty quickly. That happened in the finals between Keshequa and Bergen,” Wolf said. ” … We knew we would have to play them tough all the way until the end.”

Finally, as desperation began to set in, Frewsburg pulled down Bates inside the 18-yard box leading to a penalty kick.

“I’m very confident in all of my PK takers,” Wolf said.

Bates, the Hawks’ senior leading scorer, calmly drilled a shot into the corner of the goal for all the insurance her team would need to clinch a trip to Cortland next weekend.

“I knew what I had from the beginning. These girls have been working together for a long time, since they were in seventh grade,” Wolf said. “I knew they had it in them skill-wise … they just had to push each other and believe in each other.”