The season is still young, but the Guilderland girls lacrosse team has already put some distance between itself and the rest of the Suburban Council.
With Saturday’s 13-7 victory over Bethlehem, the defending Section II champions have beaten the four teams Bethlehem, Shaker, Saratoga Springs and Niskayuna that were thought to have the best chance to knock them out of first place. More importantly, those four wins have been by a margin of no less than six goals.
`Obviously, we’re playing quite well,` said Guilderland coach Gary Chatnik. `We’ve gone out and taken care of business.`
Guilderland’s performances have been so good that Chatnik has had a hard time finding anything to worry about. The only thing he’s troubled about is his team’s penchant for slow starts.
`We can’t figure out why we start slow,` said Chatnik. `I think we’re trying to do a lot of things early on, but once we settle down, we’re fine. The kids are figuring (other teams) out and adjusting to what’s being thrown at them.`
Danielle Tetreault has figured out how to beat opposing defenses. The junior attacker has 14 goals and six assists in the last three games, including a pair of five-goal efforts against Bethlehem and Saratoga.
The Lady Dutch aren’t a one-girl show, though. Chelsey Newman, Jen Madsen, Amanda Best, Courtney Davis and Abbey Fashouer have all recently had multi-goal games. Madsen had a hat trick in last Wednesday’s 13-5 victory over Shaker and was one of three players ` along with Best and Newman ` to pick up two goals and an assist in Friday’s 16-8 victory over Saratoga.
With a potent offense and a defense that has yet to allow more than eight goals in a game, Guilderland has taken on an unbeatable aura that past Section II dynasties such as Saratoga and Bethlehem possessed in their prime.
`The thing about our team is that now that we’ve had a taste of winning, we know we can win,` said Chatnik. `They go out, and the kids don’t back down from anybody. They work hard.`
That doesn’t make the task of repeating as Sectional champions any easier, especially in a league as tough as the Suburban Council.
`We know we have a target on our backs, and everyone wants to beat us,` said Chatnik. `But we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing, and hopefully things will continue to fall into place.`
Guilderland showed no let-up Monday as it shut out Colonie 16-0. The Lady Dutch scored 10 goals in the first half and never looked back.
Five Guilderland players scored two goals led by Tetreault’s two-goal, two-assist performance. Davis, Newman, Daley and Amy Branchini also tallied twice, while Fashouer, Madsen, Casey Gerety, Meera Chappidi and sisters Lauren and Kristen Cagino added single goals. Madsen chipped in a pair of assists.
Guilderland has a busy week coming up. The Lady Dutch travel to Shenendehowa Wednesday and Ballston Spa Thursday before hosting Columbia Friday.“