The Guilderland hockey team saw an opportunity for a victory slip away.
Mitch Wacholder, Kyle Sacks and Mitch Allen scored in the third period to lift LaSalle to a 4-2 victory over the Dutchmen last Friday at Hudson Valley Com-munity College.
They’ve been working hard and showing improvements … but we weren’t prepared for how LaSalle would respond [in the third period], said Guilderland coach John DeRubertis.
The Dutchmen (5-6 league, 6-9 overall) took control of the game in the second period. Following a Vinny Planz goal, Guilderland grabbed a 2-1 lead on tallies by Robby King and Conor Hurley.
Things fell apart for Guilderland in the third period, though. Wacholder tied the game 5:14 into the final period, and LaSalle kept buzzing around Guilderland’s goal until Sacks put the Cadets ahead with 1:45 left. Allen then iced the victory with an empty-net goal.
`Even before the tying goal, I didn’t feel like we were controlling the game,` said DeRubertis.
Guilderland goaltender Michael Alsante stopped 26 shots, while LaSalle netminder Brett Bernardo had 19 saves.
The week began promisingly for Guilderland with a 3-1 victory over Niskayuna/Schenectady last Tuesday at Union College, but it ended on a negative note last Saturday with a 7-2 loss to Glens Falls. Still, DeRubertis said that the Dutchnen are on the right track.
`Over the last five games, we’ve shown some nice improvement,` he said. `The kids have been applying some of the things that we’ve been doing in practice.`
Guilderland is off until Saturday when it visits Division I leader Saratoga Springs.
`Frankly, Saratoga looks like they are the top team,` said DeRubertis.“