Kledis Capollari was a young man of mixed emotions Monday night.
On the one hand, he was happy to help Guilderland win its first Section II Class AA boys soccer title in five years. On the other hand, it came against an Albany team he had a close connection to.
Capollari scored a goal and assisted on two more to lift the Dutchmen (15-4-0) to a 4-1 victory over the Falcons in the Sectional championship game at Colonie Central High School.
But after celebrating with his Guilderland teammates and fellow students, Capollari had nothing but hugs and words of encouragement for the Albany teammates he left behind when he transferred to the Suburban Council school as a freshman.
`I’ve known all these (Albany) guys for a long time. We came up together,` said Capollari. `These (Guilderland) kids have been brothers to me ever since I transferred over four years ago, but I’m still close with those guys.`
Capollari had been one of the Dutchmen’s top scorers during the regular season, but he was fairly silent through the first two playoff games as he managed one goal in wins over Niskayuna and Shaker.
That changed in Monday’s final. Capollari assisted on Connor Rubin’s goal less than eight minutes into the first half that gave Guilderland a quick 2-0 lead. Then with Albany trailing 2-1 and applying consistent pressure on Guilderland’s defense, Capollari broke free on a counterattack and fed Keagan Ciaschetti for a key insurance goal with 27:05 left in the second half.
Capollari provided the finishing touch himself late in the second half when he redirected Connor O’Brien’s free kick past Albany goaltender Lucas Phayre-Gonzalez to give the Dutchmen a three-goal cushion.
`Connor O’Brien played a great ball in, and I happened to be there to knock it in,` said Capollari.
O’Brien got the Dutchmen going less than three minutes into the first half when he sent a free kick into Albany’s penalty box. Jack Hanlon broke in on goal and bodied the ball past Phayre-Gonzalez for a 1-0 lead. Nearly five minutes later, Rubin tallied to make it a two-goal advantage.
The early flurry fazed Albany, which had allowed a total of 10 goals entering Monday’s final. But it didn’t deter the Falcons, and soon they started applying pressure on Guilderland’s defense.
`You know what they say — 2-0 is the worst score in soccer because you know it won’t stay that way,` said Guilderland coach Mike Kinnally.
Albany’s pressure paid off 1:55 before halftime when junior midfielder Erick Kwizera struck a shot from the top of Guilderland’s penalty box that tucked inside the crossbar to trim the Dutchmen’s two-goal lead in half.
`I thought we dominated the first 20 minutes, and then they dominated the last 20 minutes of the first half,` said Kinnally.
The Falcons continued to dominate possession of the ball through the first 12 minutes of the second half, but they were unable to get anything else past goaltender Kedrick Weeden and the Dutchmen defense. And once Ciaschetti scored, the balance of play shifted back Guilderland’s way.
`I was waiting for that (momentum) to swing our way again,` said Kinnally.
Guilderland advances to Saturday’s Class AA regional final at Colonie against the winner of Tuesday’s Section III championship game between Baldwinsville and Fayetteville-Manlius.