Last year, the Loudonville Christian boys soccer team entered the Section II, Class D playoffs as the No. 1 seed and lost in the first round.
This year, the Eagles are headed to the semifinals as the No. 4 seed.
Such is the way of the world in playoff soccer.
Loudonville Christian (10-6-1) punched its ticket to the semifinals with a 3-0 victory over No. 5 Argyle last Friday at the Boght Soccer Complex in Latham. Elijah Bovenzi scored midway through the first half, and Dillon King added a pair of goals late in the second half to seal the victory and a date with Central Hudson Valley League rival New Lebanon Wednesday in Queensbury.
I think we’re looking like a much stronger team all around (than last year), said Loudonville Christian coach Jeff King.
The greatest improvement for the Eagles has been their defense. After losing to Waterford 5-1 on Oct. 8, they have allowed a total of three goals in their last four games including a pair of shutouts.
`They’re coming along (on defense),` said King. `We certainly want the team to be a defensive team more than anything else, and there’s no better time to improve than in the playoffs.`
Loudonville Christian’s defense certainly frustrated Argyle all day. Outside of a couple of scoring chances, the Scots were limited to taking long shots that Eagle goaltender Alex MaLossi easily saw and stopped.
Loudonville Christian’s offense had its own issues scoring goals, though. The Eagles misfired on several opportunities after Bovenzi put them on the scoreboard, but Dillon King eventually broke free to score two insurance goals.
`We should be able to put the ball in the net more often than we did,` said coach King. `We’re going to have a tougher game in the semifinals.`
At least, Loudonville Christian is familiar with its semifinal opponent. The Eagles played top-seeded New Lebanon (17-0-1) twice in the CHVL season, losing to the Tigers 3-1 Sept. 10 and tying them 2-2 Sept. 30.
`We’re going to put some new ideas into play,` said King. `Each time we take the field, we’re a different team because we put some new ideas into play.`
Bison advance to AA semis
The Shaker boys soccer team is also headed to a Sectional semifinal as it defeated Columbia 1-0 Monday in the Class AA quarterfinals in Latham.
Sean Murphy scored the only goal of the game in the second half to lift the Blue Bison (14-5-1) into Thursday’s semifinal against undefeated Guilderland (20-0-0) at Colonie Central High School.
Shaker looked strong in last Friday’s opening round as it downed Schenectady 4-0. The Blue Bison not only shut the Patriots out on the scoreboard, but they also shut them out in terms of shots (14-0) and corner kicks (7-0).
`We pretty much controlled the play,` said Shaker coach Bill Blesi. `They tried to spring one guy up top (on offense), and they packed it in on defense, but luckily we got a goal early on.`
Murphy, Jose Ruiz, Travis Cardinell and Matt Capeless all scored for Shaker against Schenectady, which was one of five Big 10 teams that were eliminated from the Class AA playoffs in the first round.
`We came pretty strong this year,` Blesi said of the Suburban Council, which provided all eight quarterfinal teams in the Class AA playoffs.
Colonie (10-7-2) was also hoping to make the semifinals when it met Bethlehem in a Class AA quarterfinal game Wednesday in Colonie. The Eagles (12-4-3) defeated the Garnet Raiders twice during the regular season by scores of 4-0 and 3-0.
`They beat us twice, but both games were close for the first 60 minutes,` said Colonie coach Mike Trimarchi. `Both times, we played with them, we had opportunities to score and put them away, and we didn’t capitalize.`
The Garnet Raiders nearly didn’t make it to the quarterfinals. They battled Albany into overtime in last Friday’s opening round game at Bleecker Stadium before pulling out a 2-1 victory on Hamilton Pinzon’s goal.
`Any time you go into Bleecker to play Albany, they’re a tough team there,` said Trimarchi. `They’re well coached, they play good defense and they are well poised to score (goals).`
Andrew Caputo gave Albany a 1-0 lead on a first-half goal before Colonie tied it on Armin Hrelja’s tally. The two sides battled through a scoreless second half before Pinzon ended the contest late in the first overtime period.
The winner of Wednesday’s Colonie-Bethlehem game meets Suburban Council North Division champion Shenendehowa in Thursday’s Class AA semifinal at Colonie.“
