Shenendehowa beats Colonie 3-1 in Class AA girls’ soccer semifinal; will face Shaker in championship game

MECHANICVILLE — Even from 40 yards out, Taylor Jourdanais didn’t have any second thoughts about shooting.

The Shenendehowa junior midfielder had done her homework, and knew Colonie goalkeeper Hailey Blake liked to play aggressively off her goal line when the ball was in midfield.

“I saw an open shot,” Jourdanais said. “I knew Hailey steps up on the line. I just wanted to dump it in over her.”

Jourdanais unleashed a curling, right-footed blast, and with Blake caught a touch too far off her line, there was nothing the Colonie keeper could do to stop Shenendehowa’s go-ahead goal in the 69th minute of Tuesday’s Section II Class AA girls’ soccer semifinal at Mechanicville High School. When Emily Silva added another Plainsmen goal just 82 seconds later, it confirmed a 3-1 Shenendehowa win and a berth in Saturday’s championship game against top-seeded Shaker at Stillwater High School.

Jourdanais’ go-ahead shot came from an ambitious spot on the field, but her Shenendehowa (No. 2 seed, 14-2-1 overall) teammates and coaches had little doubt in her ability to convert.

“I love Taylor. She’s one of my best friends,” Shenendehowa junior forward Emily Baumes said. “As soon as she hit that, I knew it was in. I was like, ‘Oh my God,’ and I had to go get her right away.”

“She can rip them from there, and that’s what she did,” Shenendehowa coach Holli Nirsberger said. “It’s a game changer. An absolute game changer.”

The go-ahead goal came after a tense 20-minute period for Shenendehowa.

The Plainsmen led 1-0 at halftime after Rachel Chen drew a foul in the box in the 18th minute that Lauren DeMura calmly converted, but shortly after Chen exited with an injury early in the second half, Colonie (No. 3 seed, 12-5-1) got the equalizing goal when a counterattack resulted in Julia Bancheri poking the ball toward Sofia Sanzo, who smashed a shot into the back of the net before Shenendehowa goalie Eva Pflomm could get into position.

“We built up momentum,” Colonie coach Ryan Edson said. “We knew to weather the storm, and our kids did that. We’ve been down before, but any time we’ve had any type of adversity, our kids have responded.”

Colonie followed with a rush of momentum, putting a Shenendehowa team that had largely controlled play for the game’s first 50 minutes onto the back foot for the first time.

“We knew we had to bounce back from that,” Baumes said. “We knew the game wasn’t over, and we knew we had to fight. Because we always say, ‘The big green train keeps on rolling.’ So, we had to get it back.”

Soon enough, the Plainsmen had that big green train rolling again, and started applying pressure of their own.

It took two perfect shots in less than 90 seconds to beat Blake, who kept Colonie in the game with a number of spectacular saves, including a diving effort to deny Chen early in the second half.

Finally, it was Jourdanais who broke through, then Silva tacked on her goal soon after when her left-footed shot from the top of the 18-yard box wrong-footed Blake.

“Unfortunately, the best shots are going to beat the best goalie,” said Edson, a Shenendehowa graduate who was the goalie on the Plainsmen’s state championship-winning 2005 boys’ soccer team.

Up next for Shenendehowa comes a chance to defend its area title from last year, when the Plainsmen went all the way to the state championship game, finishing as the runners-up to Massapequa.

“We’re ready to prove our point,” Jourdanais said. “We’re ready to win.”

Halftime score: Shenendehowa led 1-0. Colonie scoring: Sanzo 1-0, Bancheri 0-1. Shenendehowa scoring: Jourdanais 1-0, L. DeMura 1-0, Silva 1-0, DiRaddo 0-1. Goalies: Colonie, Blake, 5 saves. Shenendehowa, Pflomm, 2 saves.

SHAKER STORMS INTO TITLE GAME

In Tuesday’s other semifinal, Shaker overcame an early deficit to defeat Saratoga Springs 4-2.

Saratoga Springs (No. 5 seed, 9-6-2) took a 1-0 lead midway through the first half, but Shaker (No. 1 seed, 16-1) knotted it up by halftime, then scored twice in the opening 20 minutes of the second half for a 3-1 lead.

Alena Kay scored to bring the Blue Streaks within 3-2 with 11 minutes left in regulation, but Shaker’s Olivia Pardo iced the game with six minutes to play to send the Blue Bison into the final.

Shenendehowa and Shaker will meet for the championship Saturday at noon at Stillwater. In the regular season meeting between the two teams of Sept. 29 at Shenendehowa, Shaker came away with a 3-2 win.

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