Schalmont wins girls’ Class B soccer semifinal over Mechanicville in double-overtime

STILLWATER – The No. 1 Class B team in the state got a mighty scare Tuesday, but it got some good fortune and lived to fight another day.

Schalmont got the game’s only score on an own-goal in the second overtime, as the top-seeded Sabres beat an incredibly game fourth-seeded Mechanicville 1-0 in a Section II Class B girls’ soccer semifinal at Stillwater High School.

After being scoreless for 100 minutes and 3 seconds, Schalmont (16-2) got the goal off a corner kick in which the ball bounced around the goal area before going in off a Mechanicville defender.

The defending-champion Sabres will play third-seeded Broadalbin-Perth in the final at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Stillwater.

“They had us pinned,” Schalmont coach Ryan Fries said. “I was just hoping we would settle in and possess and play our game, but they did a great job of coming up and back the field, staying with us.”

“They executed our game plan, we just didn’t have enough numbers on the attack,” Mechanicville co-coach Karl Gerstenberger said of his players. “We had our opportunities. Great team over there, they defend well. Our girls committed to the plan.”

That plan frustrated the Sabres, who are used to scoring more easily. Both teams did have several just-wide shots. Mechanicville goalkeeper Olivia Horan finished with 14 saves, while Schalmont’s Georgia Clark finished with six.

“Mechanicville did a great job defending us; we couldn’t make the runs because we had to come back and defend. That’s what made that a game,” said Fries, who noted besides the Hall of Fame Tournament, Mechanicville provided the toughest competition his team has faced all season.

“Seeding doesn’t matter, throw it out the window at this time of year,” Fries added. “It doesn’t matter how it goes in. Just who wants it more, who’s going to make that ball cross the line. It doesn’t have to be pretty, just has to cross the line.”

Mechanicville finished its season at 12-7-1.

Halftime score: 0-0. Regulation score: 0-0. First overtime score: 0-0. Mechanicville scoring: None. Schalmont scoring: own-goal. Goalies: Mechanicville, Horan, 14 saves. Schalmont, Clark, 6 saves. 

PATRIOTS WIN HIGH-SCORING AFFAIR

If you ask Broadalbin-Perth girls’ soccer coach Rob Klug, Schuylerville’s 1-0 win over his Patriots was the first game of the season, and not much should be taken from it.

One of his captains had a different view.

Defender Jules Huckans, who scored the first goal of the game in dramatic fashion, said she and her teammates have been craving revenge.

The third-seeded Patriots (14-3-1) got it with a 5-3 win over second-seeded Schuylerville in the first semifinal. Klug said it is their first finals appearance since either 2011 or 2012.

The high-scoring first half started with a perfectly placed shot by Huckans, who collected a bouncing ball from 40 yards out and booted it into the upper part of the net 58 seconds into the game.

“I just took a chance on the play and hit it,” Huckans said. “We just really wanted our revenge. We knew we were a better team, we knew we could win. That game, they scored in the first minute like I did tonight and just held it, so I’d say we got our revenge tonight.”

The revenge came with some bitten nails, though. Schuylerville answered at 12:56 when Keira Rogan’s indirect cross found Macey Koval, who poked it in from close.

Broadalbin-Perth regained the lead at 23:48 when Jillian Sassanella, between defenders, rolled one in to the right side of the goal for the first of her two goals.

Olivia Rogers tapped in one from close at 25:42 to make it a 3-1 Patriots lead. Schuylerville (15-4-1) got one back with 6:11 left in the half when Victoria Ptieri scored on a near-side shot from the right side.

Schuylerville’s Addison Murphy nearly got the equalizer in dramatic fashion, as she was a step ahead of her defender sprinting toward the goal, but Patriots goalkeeper Mairead Marsden dove to save her shot with 2 seconds left before half.

Rogan’s direct kick to the near side tied the game at 3 with 6:51 left, but the Patriots instantly went into attack mode and regained the lead less than two minutes later when Mianna Barboza headed in Marcy Hotaling’s long indirect kick. 

Sassanella scored her second to ice the win with 1:59 left by heading in Chase Tyler’s corner kick.

“We put the girls in situations like this throughout the season so they can face the adversity in the season,” Klug said. “They stepped up tonight when things didn’t always go their way. Schuylerville played a great game and was able to claw back into it.”

Halftime score: Broadalbin-Perth, 3-2. Broadalbin-Perth scoring: Huckans 1-0, Sassanella 2-0, Rogers 1-0, Fisher 0-1, Tyler 0-1, Hotaling 0-1. Schuylerville scoring: Koval 1-0, Ptieri 1-0, Rogan 0-1. Goalies: Broadalbin-Perth, Marsden, 5 saves. Schuylerville, Barraclough, 4 saves.

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