Shen avenges late season loss in sectionals
Saratoga took season finale, Plainsmen takes Section II opener
CLIFTONPARK, N.Y. » What a difference a day makes.
Just a day after losing to rival Saratoga Springs on its grass surface in the Suburban Council finale the Shenendehowa boys lacrosse squad enacted revenge and rolled past the Blue Streaks, 16-5 in a Section II Class A quarterfinal.
Saratoga’s 11- 6 victory seemed like a distant memory as the Plainsmen jumped reeled off eight straight goals, more than then scored in Thursday’s loss, noticed and uttered by the Blue Streak bench between quarters.
No. 2 seeded Shenendehowa then piled on five more goals be- fore the half, leaving No. 7 Saratoga in a 13-3 hole and scratching their heads.
On Saturday, it was Shenendehowa who had all the answers.
“It’s night and day, nothing happened overnight though, we’re the same people, the same players that we’ve been the whole season,” Shenendehowa’s Eric Makhatadze said. “It was just Thursday we weren’t there to play, we didn’t come ready, there was no effort, we were flat and they took it to us. Today we put 11 up in the first quarter; we came ready to play today.”
Makhatadze did, putting up three goals and tacking on four assists for the Plainsmen.
“We scored one, scored another, we just kept going, kept going,” Makhatadze said. “We didn’t want to lift our foot off the gas pedal, so we just kept going and played hard.”
On Thursday the Blue Streaks got credit for the win and the Plainsmen, well, they got credit for making the bus ride up to Saratoga and not much else.
“We came out flat footed, it was not our best game obviously and then I think today we came out with a different mentality, different effort level, just ready to go,” Justin Leblanc said. “They outworked us frankly, they were getting over the ground balls, getting all of them, and today we showed up.”
Leblanc made up for his own play Thursday, controlling the face- off circle and giving the Plainsmen possession leading to
those early goals and control of the game clock.
“I did what I could do, I knew what they would do and I just worked off of what they did,” Leblanc said. “They changed up what they were doing - jamming me, going for the quick rake and it was just mental. I was ‘It’s my ball, I have to get it today, and I’ve got to get it to our offense so we can score some goals.’”
It’s incredibly hard for a varsity team to simply flip
a switch and end a threegame losing streak in the first round of the playoffs, but the Plainsmen did.
“I’ve kind of learned over the years that nothing really good happens getting on a kid real hard right after a loss or something like that or a performance, whatever that might be,” Shenendehowa coach Jason Gifford said. “We kind of let it sink in for 24 hours.
“As we were packing up our stuff on Thursday, seniors kind of stepped up and said their piece, quick and sweet. We don’t have time to spend a lot of time thinking about it, you have to move forward, so we
simply said ‘ Thursday’s in the past, Saturday’s in the future, do our best to prepare for that and the kids performed today.”
Gifford also made it clear that Thursday was not a fluke for the Blue Streaks.
“This area lacrosse-wise has gotten to the point where if you don’t show up you’re going to get beat,” Gifford said. “It’s a testament to how good and prepared and hard Saratoga played on Thursday on their home field and they took it to us.
“It’s not a good feeling, it doesn’t sit well with any guys in the locker room, but you control what you can
control and you come back. Luckily the kids played well today, they played hard, and the kids were focused.”
Shenendehowa will host No. 3 Shaker 5 p.m. Tuesday afternoon at Brent T. Steuerwald Stadium.