Burnt Hills takes battle of Rt 50 at Ballston Spa
BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. » Lacrosse if often a game of runs, one team ripping off a series of goals and their opponent forced to respond with a run of their own. On Thursday afternoon it was more of a ping pong game or chess match in the Battle of Route 50 as the Scotties had an answer for almost every score by the Spartans in the Suburban Council small school match-up.
With control of the draw throughout the second half, Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake was able to build a small, four-goal lead and hold off Ballston Spa, 12-10 in the end.
“Early on I think it ended up we were throwing the ball away, not getting the little things and we became a little more consistent at certain times and took advantage of a few of their mistakes,” Burnt HIls-Ballston Lake Coach Jake McHerron said “That allowed us to start building on the lead and we were fortunate enough to hang on.”
Ballston Spa held the advantage, as small as it was, in the first half until Burnt Hills took the final lead, 6-5 in the closing minute. In the second the Spartans could only build a threegoal lead on three different occasions, never able to shake off the Scotties and keep the game close.
“We have a lot of speed,” Ballston Spa Coach Don Nowk said. “Speed and transition is kind of our go-to. “We make
good decisions when we’re on the run; it’s when we stop that we have to work on.
“We stopped being able to get the draw and in the girls game, even in the boys game, whoever gets the face-off or the draw, they win the game. They took care of the ball there, they controlled the ball down on offense well, and they took the smart shots. They just played kind of cleaner than we did.”
The Spartans were led by Lauren Hopsickers two goals and three assists with Kiera Walsh and Connally each dropping in their own hat tricks. Ballston Spa’s Maddy Barnum answered with her own three-goal day with two assists.
With Burnt Hill’s postseason directed towards pursuing another Class C title and Ballston Spa looking to battle in the Class B tournament, a meeting of like sized schools and youth on the fields brought out the best in both squads.
“I like it when we play teams that are more equal to us,” Burnt Hills freshman midfielder Ally Connally said. “I feel we get better than when we’re playing teams that have more people than us, we get intimidated, but I feel we played really hard because we were equal to them.”
Matched up equally, control at the center circle was key for the Spartans.
“I think we knew if we lost the ball (on the draw) we had to play hard to get it back,” Connally said. “I think that pushed us to play harder because we knew the ball was going up and down and we needed to keep it on our side. I think we played smart when we had the ball.”
McHerron hopes that this late, small-school match-up will again help his Spartans prepare for another run.
“Last year it was a game-changer for us last year, it helped propel us to be as successful as we were in the post-season,” McHerron said. “This is another opportunity that we can keep building so that we get better every day and I think that’s a big part of it.”
For the Scotties, the close loss was painful Thursday, but is expected to be a building block for their own post-season.
“I’m very proud of the team, they battled the entire time,” Nowk said. “There was no give up, that’s why we were able to rubber band back and forth.
“I think if we can take that battle and take the feeling of losing a close one right now, make that our energy for playing in our next game when we match up with somebody like that I think we come out ahead.”