Stillwater tops Schoharie for Class C title
TROY, N.Y. » Brooke Pickett’s nose for goal is as good as any striker in Section II. Even better, she has Stillwater teammates who put the ball in position for her to do what she does best — score.
After a hat trick in the semifinals, Pickett struck four times Wednesday to lead Stillwater to a 4-2 win over three-time defending champion Schoharie in the Section II Class C championship at Lansingburgh High School.
It is the Stillwater girls soccer program’s first Section II title since it was declared co- champs with rival Mechanicville in 2009. On that night Mechanicville advanced to the state tournament after a penalty kick shootout. Thanks to Pickett and a skilled group of Stillwater attackers it didn’t come to that against Schoharie.
“It’s been such a great group of girls all year long,” Stillwater coach Christine Ihnatolya said. “They love being around each other. I love being around them. To see all their hard work pay off, I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Going into the contest, Schoharie coaches Tammy Drinon and Kevin Scofield tried to shut down Pickett by instructing Shawna Bailey to shadow her step-forstep.
“I was getting a little bit annoyed,” Pickett said of the shadow. “A couple times I’ve seen it and I try to work through it ... Using other players from our team, other playerswho are Stillwater’s girls soccer team celebrates after winning the Section II Class C championship Nov. 1, 2017at Lansingburgh High School in Troy. open.”
The super sophomore opened the scoring in the 35th minute on a goal set up by freshman Devon Wagner to put Stillwater (18-2) up 1- 0 at the half.
Pickett made it 2- 0 midway through the second half on a play set up by Teya Staie— another freshman. Pickett controlled Staie’s chip into the box with her left foot and shot past Schoharie goalkeeper AbbyWetsel with her right in the 57th minute.
Pickett completed her hat trick on a scramble in the box. Several Stillwater and Schoharie players tried to get a foot on the ball, but the ball bounced perfectly for Pickett to slam into the net from close range.
Less than two minutes later she made it 4- 0 by turning in a pinpoint cross from fellow sophomore Paige Brinsko.
While the 4- 0 lead with less than 15 minutes left seemed like it was enough to clinch the contest, Schoharie made it interesting with two late goals from Carrie Krohn.
The skillful senior had shot wide on a breakaway early in the second half after going through four Stillwater defenders. Given a second good look at goal, Krohn made it 4-1 in the 67th minute.
Maddie Phelan nearly made it a two-goal game in the 75th minute but her shot sailed high over the goal guarded by Stillwater goalkeeper Kiersten Conroy.
Krohn found the net again in with a well-placed shot from the left side of the box with 29.4 seconds left in the contest. It turned out to be too little, too late against a young, high scoring Stillwater side.
The Warriors made it to the sectional semifinals a year ago but lost some key seniors, including Brooke Brinsko, who is now playing for Le Moyne College.
“Losing that many seniors last year was hard to pick back up this year,” captain Faith Sheehan, the lone Stillwater senior, said. “We have such a strong bond you can see it on the field. The chemistry is just awesome. We play with our hearts.”
Ihnatolya didn’t putt too much pressure on a team that is more than 50 percent underclassmen and has only one senior.
“Going into the season I had high expectations but I tried to think back to where we were last year losing in the semifinals,” Ihnatolya said. “I really just wanted to get there and get past there. Anything past that, continuing to raise our expectations.”
Stillwater did just that with a dominant 5-1 win over Lake George in the semifinal round last Saturday.
Once in the final, the Warriors played like they deserved to be there. Whether it was Keelyn Peacock making a key tackle or Stillwater goalkeeper Conroy catching a corner kick, the Warriors made the key plays in the contest. And Wagner, Staie and Pickett took turns running circles around the Schoharie defense.
“We can’t put all the pressure on ( Pickett),” Ihnatolya said. “We have to do our part from the defense to themidfield to give her those scoring opportunities.”