Ethan Chase lived up to the Superman T-shirt he wore underneath his jersey.
The Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake senior forward scored the lone goal of the game on a great individual effort to lead the Spartans to a 1-0 victory over South Glens Falls in Monday’s Section II, Class A boys soccer championship game at Colonie Central High School.
After picking up a loose ball in South Glens Falls territory, Chase dribbled several yards and threaded a shot between three Bulldog defenders and past goaltender Evan Smith with 1:23 left in the first half to give BH-BL the lead.
My coaches worked with me on taking shots outside the (penalty) box, said Chase. `They (the South Glens Falls defenders) gave me an inch, and I just took it.`
`He found a crack, and he put it in,` said BH-BL coach George Dudas.
Prior to Chase’s goal, the Spartans (16-4-1) spent a lot of time in South Glens Falls’ end of the field, but they couldn’t find a crack in the Bulldogs’ defense. BH-BL players were hounded by South Glens Falls defenders when they tried moving the ball down the wings, and crossing passes either missed their targets or were cleared away by the Bulldogs.
`They threw something at us that we hadn’t seen before,` said Chase. `They gave us time to turn (with the ball), but they dropped their sweeper back and denied us the passing lanes.`
`We got some quality shots (in the first half). We just didn’t finish them off,` said Dudas. `We had them bottled up, and all they could do was counterattack.`
South Glens Falls organized its attack in the second half and applied some pressure on BH-BL’s defense, but Spartans goaltender Josh Klapper was up for the challenge. The senior made three key saves to preserve the shutout.
`He’s been solid in the box all year long,` said Dudas. `We know we can rely on him.`
The victory gave BH-BL its third consecutive class A title and a berth in Wednesday’s regional game against Section III champion East Syracuse-Minoa at Colonie Central High School. The Spartans (18-3-0) won their first Sectional title in 15 years when they beat New Hartford 3-2 last Friday.
`We’ve got them on tape. They’re a quality team,` said Dudas.
In other playoff action, the Shenendehowa boys soccer team fell in the semifinals for the second year in a row when Bethlehem pulled out a 1-0 victory over the Plainsmen last Thursday in Colonie.
The lone goal came in the second half. A pass by Tom Klim was deflected by a Shen defender to Harrison Lane, who shot the ball past Ryan Jones to give Bethlehem the lead.
The Plainsmen had several chances to tie the game in the final 10 minutes, but the Eagles’ defense held firm to pull out the victory.“