The Niskayuna girls soccer team is back in the Section II, Class AA semifinals after a four-year absence, but it had to survive a Halloween scare first.
Kat Thomas scored with five minutes left in regulation to push Shaker within a goal, but Niskayuna held on for a 3-2 victory in Tuesday’s quarterfinal game.
It was a little bit nerve wracking, said Niskayuna coach Bryce Colby.
The Silver Warriors (15-3-2) knew they were in for a game against Shaker. In their previous meeting Sept. 12, Niskayuna had Shaker down 4-1 at halftime, but had to withstand another late charge to hold on for a 4-3 win.
`Shaker is very fast, and they press you when they have the ball,` said Colby. `And, they come at you from all angles.`
Whtiney Frary got Niskayuna off to a good start with a goal midway through the first half. Brooke Knowlton then tallied less than three minutes into the second half to make the score 2-0.
Shaker’s Rebecca Millock broke up the shutout bid with a penalty kick goal, but Frary struck again a short time later to put Niskayuna ahead by two goals again.
Both teams had scoring chances following Thomas’ goal, but Shaker’s shots missed their mark.
`We had a couple of good chances in the final five minutes that we didn’t finish, and they had their chances, too,` said Colby.
Niskayuna plays top-seeded Shenendehowa in Saturday’s semifinal at Broadalbin-Perth High School. Shen survived its own Halloween scare Tuesday by pulling out a 4-2 victory over Guilderland with a pair of second-half goals.
`The way I look at it is if you’re going to win (the Sectional title), you’re going to have to play two of the top three teams at some point,` Colby said.
Two of Niskayuna’s three losses have come against Shen. The Plainswomen shut the Silver Warriors out 4-0 Sept. 6, but Niskayuna showed improvement in a 2-1 loss to Shen Oct. 6.
`I’ve told them before that on any given day, if we play well and put things together, we can beat anybody,` said Colby.“