Shaker may be the best 0-4 girls soccer team in Section II.
Of their four losses, the Lady Bison have taken three Suburban Council powers Shenendehowa, Niskayuna and Bethlehem to overtime.
`I’m still trying to figure it out,` said Shaker coach Pete Mralvja. `You start with four of the top teams in the league, and you take three of them to overtime. And we just can’t get it done.`
Take last Thursday’s game against Bethlehem (4-0) as an example. The Lady Bison tie the game on Amanda Clough’s goal late in the second half, only to see the Lady Eagles pull out a 2-1 overtime victory when Kristina Maksuti scored off her own rebound on a free kick.
`Kristina can probably kick harder than I can,` said Mralvja. `Our wall held [on the initial kick], and the ball went back to her. She just got enough of her foot on it to get it in the air, and it just went in under the crossbar.`
Despite the overtime losses, Mralvja said his players are remaining positive.
`They’ve been good so far. They understand the teams we’ve taken on, and they’ve understood that we’re doing some positive things out there,` said Mralvja.
The Lady Bison are hoping to break their losing streak this week. After facing Guilderland Tuesday, they host Columbia Thursday.
`Maybe we can get a little bit of a reprieve this week,` said Mralvja. `Not that any team is easy in this league.“