Here we go again.
For the second year in a row, Bethlehem will play Niskayuna in the Class AA girls soccer final Wednesday at Broadalbin-Perth High School’s artificial turf field.
Bethlehem and Niskayuna have had a recent history of playing extremely close playoff games. Their last three postseason meetings have gone into overtime including last year’s Class AA final that ended with Niskayuna advancing to the regionals on penalty kicks.
I think it’s going to be a close game a lot closer than the last one (a 3-0 Bethlehem win Sept. 11), said Niskayuna coach Bryce Colby. `One thing that an artificial surface does is it narrows the gap.`
`We’ve gone to penalty kicks the last two times we’ve faced them (in the playoffs), so hopefully we’ll win in regulation this time,` said Bethlehem coach Tom Rogan.
Both teams needed overtime to advance to the Sectional final. Bethlehem (20-0-0) edged Shenendehowa 1-0 last Saturday in Glens Falls on Kaitlyn Martin’s goal in the second overtime period, while Niskayuna (14-4-2) got past Shaker 3-2 in triple overtime.
`They were the seventh seed, but they were a better team than that,` Colby said of Shaker (9-11-1), which brought up the rear in the hyper-tough Suburban Council North Division. `Their sophomore goaltender (Emily Johnson) was fantastic ` really a big impact player for them.`
Bethlehem had a hard time getting its offense going against Shen (13-6-2). The Eagles only had a handful of quality scoring chances in regulation and the first overtime period before Martin struck for her 17th goal of the season.
`They did a tremendous job on us defensively, and their goalie (Kim Elsworth) played the best I’ve ever seen her play,` said Rogan.
Bethlehem’s defense did an equally good job of shutting down Shen’s attack. The Eagles allowed only one shot on goal the entire game, which Kiersten Swete easily handled.
`Our defense hasn’t allowed a lot of quality (scoring) chances for anybody, and that continued Saturday,` said Rogan.
There weren’t a lot of quality chances for Niskayuna or Shaker in regulation time during Saturday’s other semifinal, but that changed in overtime. Caitlin Cahalan tallied twice during the first two 10-minute overtime periods, but the Silver Warriors responded each time to force a sudden-victory overtime period. Whitney Frary ended the game with her team-leading 24th goal of the season.
`She’s a real competitor,` Colby said of Frary.
Wednesday’s Bethlehem-Niskayuna showdown starts at 6 p.m., with the winner advancing to Saturday’s regional final in Syracuse against the Section III champion.
Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk has already punched its ticket to the regional level after beating Greenville 3-2 in last Friday’s Class B Sectional final at Broadalbin-Perth.
The Indians scored three goals in a 17-minute span of the second half to win their first title in three decades. Chrissy Shepard had the first goal to erase a 1-0 deficit. Emily Scott then gave R-C-S the lead with a goal, and Ashley Wilson added an insurance goal a short time later.
It was the Indians’ second consecutive trip to the Sectional final.“