Warriors close with win
Angrist, Puccioni, Lind get goals as Niskayuna triumphs
One glance at his team’s schedule upon its release made
Niskayuna boys’ soccer coach Terrence Sloan realize the final week of the 2020 Suburban Council slate would prove telling for his squad. The Silver Warriors earned a tie against nationally ranked Shenendehowa on Wednesday and concluded their regular-season schedule Saturday with a superlative 3-0 victory over Albany.
“It was a good draw,” Sloan said regarding Wednesday’s result. “Coming here today, I wasn’t really sure. Albany is always dangerous. They have a quality program and are wellcoached. Getting this 3-0 win is pretty decisive.”
“We started out strong and ended pretty strong, too, which is good,” Niskayuna junior striker Zach Lind said.
“The tie Wednesday helped us because they had not lost yet,” Niskayuna senior midfielder Jordan Angrist said. “We wanted a win from the Shen game, but we gained some con
fidence from that result. Getting one here today is a great way to go into the league playoffs.”
With no sectional tournament to compete in, Niskayuna (8-1-3 overall, 8-1-3 league) will instead turn its attention to the eight-team Suburban Council Tournament that begins play Tuesday. The Silver Warriors will be seeded No. 3 after finishing third in the Blue Division behind Shenendehowa (10-0-2, 10-0-2) and Christian Brothers Academy (10-2, 10-2).
After experiencing a trio of 1-1 ties against Shenendehowa, Saratoga and Columbia among its previous four outings, Niskayuna took a great deal of drama out of Saturday’s encounter as Angrist and Michael Puccioni scored first-half goals. The goals were the sixth for Angrist and the ninth for Puccioni.
“The first 10 minutes or so went our way getting the two goals. The rest of the game was kind of a cruise from there,” Angrist said.
“It was huge. That is what we needed,” Sloan said regarding the strong start provided by Angrist and Puccioni. “Coming off that draw, I told the kids we needed to get up early. If we could do that, it would take any momentum from them. Luckily for us, Jordan really came through for us.”
Albany (5-5-2, 5-5-2) produced some quality threats during the first 20 minutes of the second half, only to be kept off the scoreboard as junior Jacob Nuqui, junior Ian Klenk, junior Matthew Stiles and sophomore Evan Boyle turned in stellar work supporting junior goalie Papa Ndiaye.
“Every game, our defense puts in a great shift and gets the job done,” Angrist said.
“They are super dangerous up top with some very talented kids,” Sloan said of the Falcons. “You have to know where they are at all times. ... Papa has been battling back from his injury (against CBA). He made some big saves against Shen and again here today against Albany. We are ready to rock next week against whoever we get.”
Lind delivered a spectacular individual effort in splitting two defenders, turning and rifling a shot inside the right post for a 3-0 advantage with 25:49 remaining.
“He split them and buried it,” Sloan said. “He is very difficult to defend. His one-on-one skills are just tremendous.”
“It was a pretty fun goal,” Lind said with a laugh. “I just saw the chance to take a 1-v-1, got past one guy, saw the other guy, saw the split, went for the split and finished it back post.”
“He is a great asset to our team: very energetic and always getting goals,” Angrist said of Lind. “It is good to have.”
Speaking of quality assets, Niskayuna will be getting senior defender Toby Goldner back from injury.
“We are pretty confident right now,” Lind said.
Albany, a squad that battled Shenendehowa to a scoreless deadlock on Oct. 16, will look to make a playoff push after finishing with a record of 0-5-2 vs. Blue Division foes during the regular season.