The Schalmont boys soccer team contained Denzel Ogunyase for 78 minutes.
Unfortunately for the Sabres, high school soccer games last 80 minutes.
Ogunyase scored both of Albany Academy’s goals to lead the Cadets to a 2-1 Colonial Council victory over the Sabres Monday in Rotterdam.
We man-marked him, but he got away from us twice, and those were the times he scored, said Schalmont coach Chris Bailey.
Ogunyase’s first goal came with 16 minutes left in the second half off a feed from Taylor Esper. Four minutes later, Ogunyase took a feed from Chris Paratore and shot the ball past Casey Jensen to put the Cadets up two goals.
Schalmont (2-1 league, 4-2 overall) had several scoring chances throughout the game, but capitalized on only one of them ` a breakaway by Carlo Viscusi with less than two minutes left in regulation.
`We had three very good corner kicks that ` if we had somebody on the other side of the net ` would have been goals, but we didn’t,` said Bailey. `That was frustrating to watch.
`We can say we had our chances. We just didn’t capitalize on them,` he added.
It was Schalmont’s first league loss following victories over Voorheesville and Cohoes last week. The Sabres’ only other loss came against Chatham at the Tamarac Tournament ` a team Bailey said could challenge the defending class B champions come October.
`They’re the real deal,` said Bailey. `They are definitely a strong contender to win the class B title.`
Schalmont has one more non-league game against a perennial Section II title contender ` Saturday’s home contest against Scotia-Glenville. After that, the Sabres play nothing but Colonial Council teams until Sectionals start in late October.
`It’s imperative that to improve, we have to play … I wouldn’t say up because we’re a high class B team, but teams that are similar to us in terms of ability,` said Bailey. `Scotia is usually one of the top class A teams in the area.`
Entering Tuesday’s Foothills Council game against Hudson Falls, Scotia-Glenville (2-0, 3-2) had been playing some of its best soccer of the young season. The Tartans shut out Queensbury 2-0 Sept. 10 and escaped with a 2-1 overtime victory over Glovers-ville Sept. 13. They also defeated Shaker 2-0 in a non-league game Sept. 6.
Another Scotia-based team is also off to a fast start. The Schenectady Christian Falcons improved their Western Athletic Conference record to 3-1 with Monday’s 4-0 victory over Sharon Springs. Jake Bowman led Schenectady Christian with two goals and an assist.
The Falcons host Berne-Knox-Westerlo Friday. “