“I knew that they could do it, it was just that they had to believe that they could do it and I have a bunch of girls here who believed that they could do it,” Holley girls soccer head coach Renee Wolf said.
“It” is a trip to the state tournament where the Hawks will battle Waterford-Halfmoon from Section II after riding a pair of goals from leading scorer Sam Bates to defeat Frewsburg from Section VI in the Regional Round.
Holley earned their state postseason run by defeating Williamson in the Class C1 final to win the Class C Section V title – their first since 1994. They then upset Byron-Bergen, who had defeated them 6-0 in mid-September, 3-2 in overtime in the Class C state play-in round.
“We’re really happy that we could win Sectionals and keep moving on toward state’s; it’s been great,” Bates said. “We’re like a family.
“I think after we lost to (Byron) Bergen 6-0, we all just stepped it up and we didn’t want to lose like that again and we just kept working hard and we were winning,” senior midfielder Emma Brady said.
“I think we like (being considered the underdog). No one expects us to win, and we just do.”
Since that loss to the Bees in the fifth game of the season, Holley is on a 13-1 run.
The Hawks are led offensively by Bates, who enters the state final four with 31 goals (seventh in Section V) and 10 assists this season. Senior midfielder Jailyn Bishop has 11 goals with 13 assists with Brady chipping in nine goals with nine assists and senior defender Isabella Thom adding five goals and seven assists to the attack.
“Everyone is a contributing factor from our defense all the way up,” Wolf said. “We like to play through the middle, not necessarily up the middle. We’re pretty powerful all the way through.”
On defense, Thom along with senior classmate Leigha Walker and juniors Alivia and Zoey Wolf anchor the backline in front of senior goalkeeper Layne Walker.
“This is the first time that girls soccer at Holley has gone to states, so this (the regional win against Frewsburg) is like the super-big cherry on top,” Wolf said. “I think they really want it and that’s their drive…super-proud of them.”
