The Guilderland girls lacrosse team wasn’t about to let the opportunity to win a Suburban Council title slip away.
The Lady Dutch controlled play from the opening draw and pulled away to an 11-6 victory over Bethlehem last Friday to clinch the program’s first league title and the No. 1 seed for the Section II, Class A playoffs.
We’ve been knocking on the door (the last two seasons), and we finally went through, said Guilderland coach Gary Chatnik. `We’re growing up.`
`It feels awesome,` said Nikki Branchini, one of four seniors on Guilderland’s roster. `Just the team effort we put forth was incredible.`
Guilderland’s effort had to be incredible. Bethlehem (10-3 league, 10-4 overall) ` which has won the last eight Sectional championships ` was coming off close victories over Shaker and Niskayuna that kept the Lady Eagles within a game of the Lady Dutch. Moreover, a win would have given Bethlehem a sweep of its regular-season series against Guilderland and a tiebreaker for the league title.
However, it was clear from the opening draw that the Lady Dutch (13-1, 15-2) would set the tone in this game. Guilderland consistently won battles for draws and ground balls, and it maintained possession nearly twice as long as Bethlehem.
`Bethlehem was just as aggressive as we were,` said Chatnik. `It’s a credit to our team that we kept battling and answered whenever they scored.`
`It’s an intensity-level thing when it was a 50-50 ball,` said Bethlehem coach Dawn Austin. `Guilderland was a little more intense than us.`
Guilderland asserted control on the scoreboard midway through the first half. After Abbey Fashouer charged through Bethlehem’s defense and scored to give the Lady Dutch a 2-1 lead, Jen Kaye made two saves on point-blank shots by the Lady Eagles. A short time later, Danielle Tetreault tallied to make the score 3-1.
`A great goalie save turns many games around, and the kids see that,` said Chatnik.
Branchini doubled Guilderland’s lead to four goals with a pair of late first half tallies ` the first of which required the University at Albany-bound senior to use her field hockey skills. Branchini lost the handle on a shot in front of the Bethlehem goal, but she scooped the loose ball by Rae Mahon for a 4-1 lead.
`There’s no turning back after that,` said Branchini, who tallied again a couple of minutes after her first goal. `Once you have the momentum, you can’t let it go.`
Bethlehem stayed close through the first five minutes of the second half, but Guilderland pulled away for good with a three-goal spurt. Chelsey Newman got the run going with a free position tally to make the score 7-3. Best then scored from a tough angle, and Courtney Davis added a free position goal after being fouled by Mahon to put the Lady Dutch ahead by six goals.
`Nobody on this team is afraid to go to the goal, and nobody’s afraid to take a shot,` said Chatnik.
Best, Branchini, Fashouer and Newman all scored two goals to lead a balanced Guilderland attack. Ladouceur and Kayleigh Hynes each tallied twice for Bethlehem.
Though Guilderland locked up the league title and the top seed with the win against Bethlehem, both coaches acknowledged the Sectional championship is up for grabs, especially when Shaker and Saratoga are factored into the equation.
`We’ve been saying all year that you can’t take anybody for granted,` said Chatnik. `Any one of six teams could win it.`
`We’ve split with Shaker, we’ve split with Guilderland and that’s the way a tough league should be,` said Austin.“
