BUFFALO — The North Collins Eagles faced their toughest challenge of the year, C.G. Finney of Section 5 on Friday night. The Eagles remained competitive for over a half, but a late surge by Finney pushed the score to a 5-0 final in the Far West Regional.

“This game has been a testament to how we have played the entire year,” said North Collins coach Jay Walters. “We have had moments where we play great and can play with anybody, but have a difficult time maintaining that through the course of the game.”

Finney applied pressure early on that North Collins (8-9-1) recovered from and had their own counter attack opportunities. The lone goal of the first half came from a hard strike by Connor Torrell, who had a perfect strike from inside the box that went off the North Collins goalie’s fingertips before trickling over the line.

According to Walters, “They make solid contact with the ball. The ball comes in so hard that it is difficult to adjust to, but our goalie did a tremendous job blocking many of those strikes.”

The Eagles best opportunities came after the first goal. In the 33rd minute, a free kick from 30 yards away was struck wide, which pulled the goalie out, but North Collins was a step away from getting to the loose ball. In the first minute of the second half, Mitchell Warsaw struck a ball from inside the box, which Finney goalie made a diving save to stop the ball. North Collins was awarded two corner kicks and controlled the possession inside the offensive end during the first ten minutes of the second half.

Despite all of the opportunities, North Collins was unable to place the ball into the net.

“I thought we played our best in the start of the second half,” said Walters. “We made solid passes and really moved well together, but they are a good team and it is hard to finish against them.”

In the 62nd minute, Finney had another hard strike that went through the goalies legs. Forty seconds later, Finney (20-2) responded with another goal on a cross that was stopped and timed perfectly by Ian Lau to place past the Eagles goalie.

“Finney was able to make a few changes and they found those open lanes,” said Walters. “They have speed and they began to find a way to use it in the open field.”

North Collins struggled to recover from that pressure as Finney kept the momentum going with multiple chances. In the 70th minute, Torell scored off a rebound and he recorded a hat trick with his third goal in the last 50 seconds of the game. “Unfortunately, the score is not indicative of the game,” Walters added. “They found a few ways to connect late.”

Michael Warsaw made nine saves in defeat.

“Michael was a great addition to have from the football team,” said Walters. “He may have let in a goal that he shouldn’t have, but Finney kicked the ball solid and hard from inside so many of those saves were difficult that anyone would have had trouble with.”

Cody Misco, David Gullo, Jackson Mathis, Tyler Mathis, Ryan Gaglione, Nick Woronowski, Jacob Puckhaber, and Michael Warsaw all will graduate for North Collins this year.

“This group has done tons for the program,” Walters stated. “They have been dedicated individuals who competed to their best ability while helping the younger players on the team. This was a great year, although the future is bright for us as we have a lot of younger talent.”