Nick McCloskey scored Scotia-Glenville’s final goal on a strong run to the cage, and the Tartans held on afterward to beat Albany Academy, 8-7, in a Section II Class B lacrosse quarterfinal that was halted Tuesday night when a thunderstorm hit and was completed Wednesday afternoon.
“Last night, I had dreams about what was going to happen. All day in school, the teachers were asking what was going to happen,” said McCloskey, a senior attackman. “It was like I had knots in my stomach all day.”
Scotia-Glenville held a 7-6 lead when the contest was stopped Tuesday with 8:18 left in the fourth quarter.
Another thunderstorm affected Wednesday’s Section II athletic schedule, with the Class A and Class B girls’ lacrosse championship games pushed to today and several softball matchups postponed.
“We dominated most of the game yesterday. We had a three-goal lead, but we had a five-minute stretch where they scored two goals and got right back in it,” said Scotia-Glenville coach Bob Gula. “As we got into the fourth quarter, we started to pick it up again. Our goalie was making saves and we were getting good shots, and that’s when we had to stop.”
Albany Academy had possession of the ball when play resumed.
“We were planning on getting the equalizer,” said Cadets coach Mark Wimmer. “It deflated us a little when we didn’t.”
McClockey delivered his clutch goal with 4:20 left, giving the Tartans (No. 4 seed, 14-3) an 8-6 advantage.
“One of our defensive guys [Jake Trainor] picked it up and lobbed it over everyone,” McCloskey said. “I got a step on my guy, went right in and backhanded the ball up top.
“It was a good way to get momentum back on our side.”
In didn’t last long, though. Albany Academy (No. 5, 10-6) pulled within a goal when Matt Balter connected with 2:22 left, and the Cadets applied heavy pressure in the final minute. Just before the game ended, Nick Boyagian, with his back turned toward the cage, raked the ball between his legs and hit the post.
“I thought we showed a lot of heart coming back,” said Wimmer. “We answered their goal and almost got one at the end when our last shot went off the post.”
“When we went up [8-6], we had a timeout, and I told the guys. ‘In lacrosse, you can score four goals in a minute. You can’t hang your hat on a two-goal lead,’” said Gula. “We wanted more, and it didn’t happen. When they had possession, our defense came through.”
Scotia-Glenville extended its winning streak to six games. One of those victories came against Albany Academy last week, 9-4.
“Before we started yesterday, I stressed to my guys if the roles were reversed, I’d want to come out and make a statement,” said Gula. “I mentioned that again today. Albany Academy was going to come after us.”
“Our defense came up big. Our goalie [Ray Nazir] came up with a few clutch saves,” said McCloskey. “It was a matter of holding onto that lead.”
Sophomore Sam Carmola scored three goals for Scotia-Glenville and won 13 of the 15 faceoffs he took. Balter had two goals and an assist to lead the Cadets.
Scotia-Glenville will play at Niskayuna (No. 1, 17-0) today. Niskayuna, the state’s top-ranked Class B team, piled up 18 first-quarter goals in a 29-2 quarterfinal win over Troy Tuesday.
“I think they’ll underestimate us,” said McCloskey. “That makes us pretty dangerous.”
Spartans advance
Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake rallied in the second half to beat Queensbury, 11-4, in another Class B quarterfinal.
“We just played much, much better in the second half,” said BH-BL coach Tom Schwan. “It was a real positive for us. We’ve been struggling for a week, and we got out of our funk.”
The Spartans (No. 3, 8-9) trailed at the half, 3-2. Consecutive goals by Tom Porter, Logan Ball, Austin Clark and two by Tom Kenneally set BH-BL on a course for victory.
“At the half [assistant] coach [Jason] LaPietro told the team, ‘You have to decide if you want your season to end or continue on,’ ” said Schwan. “He got after them in a positive way, and right away to start the second half, our guys responded.”
Kenneally led BH-BL with four goals, and Will Clark netted three. Ben Willows had two goals and an assist for Queensbury (No. 6, 10-7).
Burnt Hills will play at Ballston Spa (No. 2, 10-7) tonight in the semifinal round. The teams split two games during Suburban Council play, with the Spartans winning, 9-6, and the Scotties winning, 10-9.
“It should be a real good one,” said Schwan.
CLASS B
SCOTIA-GLENVILLE 8, ALBANY ACADEMY 7
Albany Academy 1 3 1 2 — 7
Scotia-Glenville 3 3 1 1 — 8
Albany Academy scoring: Josh Egan 1-0, Matt Balter 2-1, Zafar Saifi 1-0, Zach Bove 1-1, Nick Boyagian 1-0, Andy Martin 1-1, Dillon Hood 0-1, Nick DeVito 0-1. Scotia-Glenville scoring: Nick McCloskey 1-2, Connor Flaherty 1-2, Ben Connelly 1-0, Cullen Swider 2-0, Sam Carmola 3-0.
Goalkeepers: Albany Academy, Max Giovaccom 6 saves. Scotia-Glenville, Ray Nazir, 10 saves.
BURNT HILLS-BALLSTON LAKE 11, QUEENSBURY 4
Queensbury 1 2 1 0 — 4
BH-BL 1 1 5 4 — 11
Queensbury scoring: Kody Kristel 1-0, Braden Kietzman 0-1, Ben Willows 2-1, Zoran Morrell 0-1, Ryan Conway 1-1. Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake scoring: Will Clark 3-0, Paul Krowel 0-1, Tom Kenneally 4-2, Billy Chapman 0-2, Dan Porter 1-0, Logan Ball 1-0, Max Charlton 0-1, Austin Clark 2-1.
Goalkeepers: Queensbury, Kade Kirby, 8 saves. Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake, Lucas Carter, 8 saves.
Softball
Witches prevail
Ashleigh Maines singled, tripled and drove in three runs as Greenwich topped Canajoharie, 8-4, in the Section II Class C tournament’s first round.
Sarah Heimbach was 3-for-4 with two RBI for the No. 2 Witches (18-3), Mariah Linnett had two singles and Courtney Towne tripled.
Shy Logan doubled for the No. 15 Cougars, who scored all four runs in the seventh inning.
Greenwich will face No. 7 Lake George in the quarterfinals Friday at 4:30 p.m. The Warriors beat No. 10 Mayfield, 11-6.
In Class B, No. 3 Taconic Hills got a 10-strikeout shutout from pitcher Hannah Sears to beat No. 14 Fonda-Fultonville, 3-0. Sears walked one batter and allowed four hits.
Sears, Alexis McComb, Michelle Link and Alicia Kostszewski each singled for the Titans (16-3). Fonda got two hits apiece from Emily Frollo and Sam Hart.
Jenna Rutkey was 3-for-4 with three RBI as No. 8 Ichabod Crane beat No. 9 Schuylerville, 6-1. Reychel Webster was 2-for-3, and Kim Myers singled and drove in two runs for the 12-8 Riders.
Schuylerville got a double and a single from Katie Lehane, while Sarah Baker doubled and drove in a run.
Fifth-seeded Hudson Falls beat No. 12 Corinth, 8-0.
CLASS B
TACONIC HILLS 3, FONDA-FULTONVILLE 0
Fonda-Fultonville 000 000 0 — 0 4 4
Taconic Hills 020 011 x — 3 5 1
Hart and unavailable; Sears and unavailable.
ICHABOD CRANE 6, SCHUYLERVILLE 1
Schuylerville 000 000 1 — 1 6
Ichabod Crane 210 300 x — 6 8
Lehane, Kelleher (6) and unavailable; Mazzariello and Van Alphen.
CLASS C
GREENWICH 8, CANAJOHARIE 4
Canajoharie 000 000 4 — 4 4 4
Greenwich 010 403 x — 8 10 2
Logan and Balfe; Heimbach and Linnett.
Reach Gazette Sportswriter Jim Schiltz at 395-3143 or [email protected]
GAZETTE COVERAGE
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