Pottersville, NY  - The Panthers traveled to Word of Life on Saturday to play the Huskies in the YSCC Play-In. 

The Huskies came out firing, out-shooting the Panthers by a ratio of 8-2 by the time they finally scored a goal to take a 1-0 lead. However, just before halftime, the Huskies had a red card and would go on to play the rest of the game a man down. 

Using this to their advantage, the Panthers would go on to out-shoot the Huskies 13-7 in the second half. About 15 minutes into the half, Sahil Arora (Clifton Park, NY) set up teammate Jay Carlson (Saratoga Springs, NY) to tie the game at 1 apiece. Despite the Panthers controlling the ball, the Huskies managed to score once more to retake the lead. 

With the season on the line and in desperate need of a goal, Jay Carlson showed up in the clutch scoring his second goal of the night to tie the game and send it to overtime.  

Overtime is a 15 minute period in which it is sudden death. In the 15 minutes following regulation, the Panthers got up 4 shots by 4 different players, but none of them found the back of the net. The Huskies, still down a man, only got one shot up that missed. The second overtime period was similar as the Panthers out-shot the Huskies 3-2 with no one scoring a goal.  Instead of playing a third overtime, it was time for a shootout. 

In a shootout, each team takes five shots and whoever makes the most shots wins the game. Alternating players, the Panthers started with Carlson who missed. The Huskies made their first shot, but the Panthers answered with Arora who made his. The Huskies then missed their second. Ryan Prescott (Wayne, NJ) was next and he missed while the Huskies made theirs. Vincent DeVito (Saratoga Springs, NY) then made his shot followed by another Huskies make.  With one shot left, Sam Rowley (Queensbury, NY) came out and drilled his shot to tie the shootout at three. It all came down to one final Huskies shot, which they ultimately made to win the game. 

It was a heartbreaking loss in a valiant effort by the Panthers, but their season came to an unfortunate end with the loss.  "What a tough game! What a tough season!" said head coach John Adeseko after the devastating loss, "I'm sad it's over for the seniors as collegiate athletes but I'm proud to have been their coach for 4 years. I'm going to miss each and every one of them. They played their hearts out today, no one wanted it to end today but like I told them, 'keep your head up knowing you gave everything.'" 

9 seniors played in their last game while the remaining players will begin the off season with eyes set on a deeper playoff run next year. 

How to follow the Panthers: For the latest information on ACPHS athletics, visit acphspanthers.com or check out the ACPHS athletics social media platforms on Instgram @ACPHSPanthers or X @ACPHSAthletics. 

Written by Angelo Oddo.