Spartans back in girls' soccer final four

PHOTOGRAPHER: Bill Palmer

On a day that was not kind to Section II champions, the Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake girls added another line to their postseason history.

The Spartans got goals from four different players in beating Massena, 4-0, in a Class A regional championship game at Potsdam High, earning their fifth spot in the state semifinals in six years.

Only two of the other seven Capital Region teams advanced. Cambridge scored a 3-0 win over Seton Catholic of Plattsburgh in girls’ Class C, and Fort Ann beat Chapel Field (Section IX), 6-0, in a boys’ Class D game.

Saratoga Springs (Class AA), Scotia-Glenville (Class A) and Schoharie (Class C) all suffered one-goal losses in boys’ regional finals.

The Bethlehem (AA) and Northville (D) girls also had their seasons end at the state quarterfinal level.

Marina Georgio gave Burnt Hills a 1-0 lead at the half. Bryony Striffler, Jess Lyden and Sky Kaler added goals as the 17-4-0 Spartans posted their fifth straight postseason shutout.

“We had a little case of busride-itis,” said Burnt Hills coach Brian Bold. “But we played really well in the second half.”

Kaler, freshman Morgan Burchardt and defenders Kaita Albanese and Nicole Shively all picked up assists as the Spartans beat Massena for the fifth time in six years at this stage of the tournament, by a 13-1 total.

“The defense played well again,” said Bold. “They’ve been so good in the sectionals and through regionals.”

The foursome of Albanese, Shively, Sarah Glowa and Brianne Hadcock made life easy for first-year goalkeeper Florie Comley, who had to make just four saves.

Burnt Hills had a total of 14 corner kicks to Massena’s one.

The Spartans will play either Sayville or Garden City in the semifinals on Friday at 2:30 at Homer High School. The title game is Saturday, 2 p.m., at Cortland State.

Emma Firenze, Angelica Romeau and Erin Ward all scored in the first half as Baldwinsville eliminated Bethlehem. The Eagles, who finished 16-3-1, were in their third straight regional final.

Bridget Cuddihy scored all three goals as Cambridge avenged a loss in the 2009 regional finals and qualified for the first state semis in program history.

Christina Casamassina scored four goals as Smithtown Christian (Section XI) beat Northville for the second straight year. Kristi Bills made 19 saves for the Falcons, who have won three straight sectional championships.

TARTANS FALL

Chris Alescio scored a pair of goals, including the first of the game, but Scotia-Glenville couldn’t hold off Jamesville-DeWitt.

“They were good,” said Alescio. “They won a lot of 50-50 balls.”

“They were like a mirror image of us, but not quite as fast up front,” said Scotia coach Chris Bailey, whose team finished 16-3-2 and had blitzed Franklin Academy of Malone, 5-1, in the regional semis. “They were a good team, well-coached. They were a little better than us today.”

“Considering we thought this might be a rebuilding year because of all the seniors we lost, to win the Foothills Council and sectionals, and get to this game, I can’t be disappointed,” said senior defender Steve Rumfelt, one of four senior starters for the Tartans.

“They just beat us to the ball,” said senior forward John Mancini. “We wanted to get to states, but we had a good year.”

“All three of their goals were good goals,” said Bailey. “It’s tough on the seniors. This was just a great group.”

Saratoga, in its first-ever regional final, fell behind, 2-0, at the half against Baldwinsville. Ercan Kilic and Morgan Smith had second-half goals for the 13-3-4 Blue Streaks.

Schoharie’s most successful season ended in a 2-1 overtime loss to Madrid-Waddington in a Class C regional played at Guilderland.

The Section II champion Yellow Jackets took a 1-0 lead in the second half when the Indians failed to clear a corner kick and a defender pushed the ball across the goal line.

Schoharie tied the game less than two minutes later when Dylan LaBadia converted a penalty kick.

The Indians had a handful of decent chances early in the overtime before Zach Marcellus ended the game 10:33 into OT.

“They caught our defense asleep,” said Indians coach Will Bevins. “It was an absolutely beautiful goal.”

The mental and physical beating of the postseason also caught up with the Indians, who were playing a team that had to win one game for a sectional championship, then drew a regional bye.

“We’re tired. Our season was so compressed. We haven’t had more than two days’ break and it shows against a team that hasn’t had more than two or three games in the last two or three weeks,” said Bevins “We’ve played six games getting, this far.

“They were all just a hair off. We just couldn’t get anything going. But that’s soccer.”

“After four months you get worn down, run down, burned out,” said LaBadia, who was also a key player on the 2009 team that shared the Class CC title, but watched Voorheesville go on to regionals through the penalty kick tiebreaker in the sectional final. “The only thing that kept us going the last couple of game is our heart. We all play for each other.”

Fort Ann got five goals from Jim Shevy in a rout of Chapel Field.