Scotties edge Raiders 1-0

BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. » In a contest between Ballston Spa’s possession-style offense and Colonie’s stout defense, the host Scotties managed to walk away with a 1-0 Suburban council win.

Ballston Spa coach Garry Preece said increased effort in the second half was huge for his team.

“I think in the second half, they picked up the intensity and really worked with each other, moving the ball around,” Preece said. “They had good passes and it turned into a nice goal, so good passing and good ball control.”

The deciding goal came with 7:41 remaining in the contest off a corner kick.

Jeremy Obrecht’s cross fell to Ryan Blair, who quickly passed it to Michael Robyck, who was in position to beat the goalie for the first and only goal of the game.

“It wasn’t even really me,” Robyck said. “I did finish it, but it was the team that really did the work. Blair had a great pass in, the whole team worked together hard and we fought to the end. It is always a special moment when you hit the goal to decide the game, but overall it was the team. We all worked together hard, but it is nice when you are the one to hit it in.”

The goal was a long time coming.

The Scotties managed to control the ball for most of the game and kept it in the Raiders zone. Colonie managed only two shots on goal in the game, one from Cameron Enos in the first half and one from Zachary Millson in the second, while the Scotties had six shots on goal in the first and nine shots on goal in the second.

Colonie coach Mike Boland said he knew coming in it was going to be a tough game to win.

“Every time we come face Ballston Spa we know it is going to be a big, competitive group,” Boland said. “They always go hard and it is kind of how the Suburban Council is. If we aren’t ready for it, we aren’t ready for it. There are only so many games in that it is finally going to have somebody realize it is a big strong competitive league. Ballston Spa battled and we battled, but they came out the better side today.”

Preece thought his team may have scored a few more if it wasn’t for Colonie’s stout defending and a few key saves in goal.

“Colonie had a couple kids who were working hard at keeping us at bay and the goalie had some phenomenal saves, so it was important for us to keep the ball down on their half and put the ball away,” Preece said. “It was the key to the game I think.”

Enos put his shot on goal in the opening minutes, but for the rest of the half, the ball remained in Colonie territory. Ryan Blair, Ian DeFilippis, Thomas Gentile, Obrecht and Alex Yerou had attempts on goal but none managed to hit the back of the net.

The Scotties’ best chance in the first came with 18:40 left in the half. Ballston Spa worked the ball to Yerou, but his shot was saved by Colonie goalie Nathan Langlois.

Ballston Spa came back in the second half and continued firing at the net. With 33:27 remaining in the half DeFilippis directed a shot at the top right corner, but Langlois managed to make the save. Millson put Colonie’s only shot on goal in the second half with 12:14 remaining, but it went right to Ballston Spa goalie Ethan Shuhart for an easy save.

Minutes later, however, Robyck scored and Ballston Spa walked away with the win.

Colonie has struggled so far this season dropping close matchups in a tough Suburban Council.

Boland said his team is going to keep trying to put up a fight.

“We are doing our best this year to at least pride ourselves on competing,” Boland said. “Every game besides one so far has been a good battle, but we are just unfortunately on the losing end of them right now. We are just trying to come out and always be competitive and always battle and I think we did the for a majority of the game. All it takes in this league is one play and they got on the better side of the play and that was that.”

Preece said any win in the Suburban council is important.

“This is a huge win,” Preece said. “Any win in the Suburban Council are huge. Every game is a dog fight, so you want to keep winning and stay healthy if possible and I think we are doing that so far.”