As one might expect, a girls lacrosse game between the defending Section 2 Class A and Class B champions went down to the wire.
Haley Schultz scored the go-ahead goal with 1:42 left in the second half to lift Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake past Shaker 7-6 in their Suburban Council opener Friday, April 3, at Union College’s Frank Bailey Field.
It wasn’t the result Shaker (0-1) was looking for coming out of the gate, but coach Kara DePaula-Lynch said it gave her defending Class A champs an idea about what they’ll have to do going forward.
“I thought we did a great job. We could have done a lot better,” said DePaula-Lynch. “We haven’t had any time outside as of yet. I mean, we had two practice days outside on the field, so we haven’t had a chance to feel a really big field yet. I think the girls know what we need to work on in practice.”
The biggest issue that cropped up in Friday’s game was Shaker’s shot selection. While the Blue Bison enjoyed a 23-15 advantage over Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake (2-0) in shots on goal, they had difficulty getting anything past Spartans’ goaltender Lexie Ball, who stopped 17 shots.
“We didn’t know how to put it in the back of the net,” said DePaula-Lynch. “We had a million shots. Our shooting percentage was terrible.”
Shaker gained the lead three times in the second half of a tense back-and-forth battle with Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake. The Blue Bison’s last lead came when Kayla Hart scored on an 8-meter restart to make the score 6-5.
The Spartans tied the score at 6-6 and then got a key save from Ball on a Shaker restart to set the final sequence in motion. After holding the ball close to the left sideline for nearly 30 seconds, Schultz charged to the front of the Shaker goal and rifled a shot past Blue Bison goaltender Emily Polcinello to put Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake ahead 7-6.
DePaula-Lynch said she wasn’t bothered by Schultz’s goal, even though she was screaming to her defenders to get the ball while Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake was delaying for a final shot.
“My thing is that I’d rather them be able to score and have us maybe come back and try to tie it up than let them have the last shot with 10 seconds left,” said DePaula-Lynch.
Indeed, Shaker had a chance to tie the game over the final 102 seconds, but the Blue Bison couldn’t get a shot off.
Schultz had a hat trick to lead Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake, while Carly Grant and Julie Levan provided the other four Spartans goals. Kailyn Hart and Maeve Lennon each tallied twice for Shaker.
The Blue Bison looked to rebound from their season-opening loss when they met Saratoga Springs Tuesday, April 7, at Skidmore College. Shaker hosts Niskayuna Thursday, April 9, and Queensbury Monday, April 13.
In other girls lacrosse action last week, Colonie (0-1) began its season with a 23-3 loss to Columbia Thursday, April 2, at home.
Gabrielle Childrose scored eight goals, and Jackie McGlynn contributed six goals for the Blue Devils, who jumped out to a 14-2 halftime lead.
Briela Tollisen tallied twice for Colonie, and goaltender Sarah Lester stopped eight shots.