There weren’t too many people that expected the Loudonville Christian boys soccer team to represent the Central Hudson Valley League in the Section II, Class D title game.
The Eagles were a bit inexperienced, started a first-time goalkeeper, and their most skilled player was playing while recovering from a separated shoulder.
With all that against them, the Eagles entered the title game against top-seeded Fort Ann Saturday evening at Colonie High School and lost 1-0.
We were very inexperienced from the beginning of the season. If we had practice tomorrow, we would still be learning something new, said first year coach Jeff King. `It was that type of a year. We had to start from scratch, but we had the right attitude, and the kids were good learners. They really progressed a lot.
`This team had a lot of senior leadership, and that made it easy for me. I was very happy to find out that we had that,` he added.
Loudonville Christian had a couple of chances to score in the first half, but couldn’t solve Fort Ann keeper Eric Dufford. Elliot Mistur lifted a high kick that Dufford got his finger tips on and redirected off the right post on one of the Eagles’ scoring attempts.
Another scoring chance came later in the first half after Loudonville Christian controlled the ball in Fort Ann’s half of the field. A rebound off the goal post ricocheted out to Matt Burke, who made his way into the penalty box, lined the shot up and kicked the ball out of bounds, narrowly missing the net.
Fort Ann scored the only goal of the game late in the second half. Off a corner kick, Charlie Greenough’s shot was saved by Loudonville Christian keeper Ryan Sanford, but Fort Ann’s Jeremy Hoag headed the rebound past Sanford with traffic in the keeper’s box. Sanford, who finished with nine saves, had no chance on the goal.
`We don’t take a goal like that to heart. We take it as it’s just one of those things that happens,` King said.
Fort Ann won the Class D title for the third year in a row and earned its fourth championship in six years. The other two seasons, the Cardinals finished second.
`They’ve (Fort Ann) got a winning reputation, and they’re a program that’s been around for a long time,` King said. `While we’ve never had this type of success, it’s a new thing for this program, and I’m very proud of this team for making it this far.“
