Here is a scary thought for the rest of the Suburban Council:
The Guilderland girls lacrosse team has scored 35 goals in its first two games, and the Lady Dutch aren’t at full strength yet.
Guilderland’s latest outburst came Saturday with an 18-14 victory over Section III power Fayetteville-Manlius at Herkimer Community College. The Lady Dutch (1-0 league, 2-0 overall) jumped out to a 12-6 halftime lead and held on for the four-goal victory.
Offensively, we’re very pleased, but we have a lot of work to do defensively, said Guilderland coach Gary Chatnik. `The good thing is things are falling into place for us.`
Erin Mossop had the game of her life for Guilderland. The senior attacker scored a school-record 10 goals and added two assists.
`She had an outstanding performance,` said Chatnik. `Erin is a great team player, but everything set up perfectly for her.`
But as Chatnik pointed out, Mossop wasn’t the only player contributing for Guilderland against Fayetteville-Manlius. The Cietek twins ` Kendall and Mackenzie ` each had two goals and an assist, while freshman Morgan Hardt chipped in with a pair of goals.
`Even though Erin scored 10 goals, we had six other kids score goals,` said Chatnik. `That’s how we play.`
Guilderland has been scoring goals in bunches without junior attacker Kelly Camardo, who suffered a leg injury prior to the start of the season.
`I think when Kelly comes back, that’s going to be a big boost for us,` said Chatnik.
The defense has also been solid for Guilderland, even though Fayetteville-Manlius found the net 14 times. Junior goaltender Jessica Madsen had seven saves to help the Lady Dutch hold on for the win.
`I think Jess is the top goalie in the area, and she hasn’t let us down yet,` said Chatnik. `The goals she gave up were point-blank shots.`
Guilderland entered Saturday’s non-league game off an equally impressive 17-3 win against Bethlehem in last Thursday’s Suburban Council opener in Delmar. The Lady Dutch outscored the Lady Eagles (0-1) 12-1 in the first half before cruising through the final 25 minutes to win the first meeting between the two traditional Albany County girls lacrosse powers.
`The transition game and the draw control is where we lost the game, and those are things that you can only do [in practice] outside,` said Bethlehem coach Dawn Austin. `Guilderland has been outside, while we’ve been stuck inside.`
Mossop and Shelby Iapoce each recorded hat tricks, while Hardt and Kendall Cietek both had two goals and two assists for Guilderland. Mackenzie Cietek and junior attacker Brianna Phillips also tallied twice.
Kaitlyn Ayres ` one of only three seniors on Bethlehem’s roster ` led the Lady Eagles with two goals and an assist. Junior Tori McGrath also tallied, and freshman goaltender Elaine Kehoe made six saves in her first varsity start.
`We graduated 12 seniors from last year’s team,` said Austin. `We have only two girls with any starting experience at the varsity level, and we have five freshmen on the team.`
`Don’t discount Bethlehem at all,` said Chatnik. `They have a good coach and good players.`
Guilderland and Bethlehem were scheduled to play Tuesday, weather permitting. Guilderland was slated to meet Columbia, while Bethlehem had a match-up with Averill Park.
`It was a good win against a quality [Fayetteville-Manlius] team, but now we have to get ready for our next game,` said Chatnik. `It’s a long season, and the league is getting tougher.`
`We played really well over the last several minutes of that [Guilderland] game,` said Austin. `I think they now know what is expected of them, and they will be ready to go out there and compete.“