TORONTO – The New York Sirens came into Tuesday night knowing that to stay in playoff contention, they’d need a win in regulation. While they got the victory they needed, the devil in the details unfortunately cost them, with Allyson Simpson’s game-winning goal coming 2:42 into overtime. For the third consecutive season, the Sirens will be on the outside looking in at the Walter Cup playoffs.
New York pelted Toronto Sceptres goaltender Raygan Kirk with 29 shots through 60 minutes, including breakaways from Denisa Kลรญลพovรก, Casey O’Brien, and Sarah Fillier. However, they failed to solve the red-hot Kirk, who now boasts a .968 save percentage over her last seven games.
“We knew the stakes, we knew we needed a regulation win. Nice to get rewarded in overtime, but it was too late for us,” Fillier said postgame. “We had so many chances, I had so many chances on my stick, just to bury one earlier. I thought we had great chances all game, and I just think we deserved better.”
Know the stakes they did, as with a minute and a half to go and the game still 0-0, Sirens coach Greg Fargo pulled goaltender Kayle Osborne for the extra attacker despite the tied score. After a scare in their own end and a called timeout, New York managed some zone time at six-on-five, coming agonizingly close to breaking through.
“Would have loved to have gotten [Osborne] out a little sooner. We had a tough time there, couple shifts, coming up with possession in the offensive zone, so it took us a little bit to get her out of the net,” explained Fargo. “I thought we did a great job once we got her out, when we had six out there, we had a couple good bids but just couldn’t find it.”
Despite being eliminated as soon as the game reached overtime, the two points New York collected Tuesday do not count towards their Gold Plan total. The Sirens have one remaining game to accumulate up to three points when they head to Tsongas Center on April 25 to take on the Boston Fleet, part of a league-wide slate of games on the regular season’s final day.