Eric Makhatadze’s hat trick powers Shen past ‘Toga
CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. » The Saratoga Springs boys soccer team came out firing on the road against rival Shenendehowa Thursday afternoon, putting immense pressure on Plainsmen freshman goalkeeper Noah Flint.
The Shen netminder and his defense held strong and waited for the right opportunities at their feet and even their heads as senior midfielder Eric Makhatadze was the difference maker, scoring all three Plainsmen goals in the 3-1 Suburban Council win.
“The first 10 minutes were definitely a little rough, we were definitely settling into the game, but after that we were able to settle the ball down, move it around and play our game which ended up getting us the win,” Eric Makhatadze said.
He broke the scoreless tie 19 minutes in after teammate Eric Brunell split two Blue Streak defenders and tapped the ball towards the goal, al-
lowing Makhatadze to finish it.
Shenendehowa opened the second with a fortuitous call by the referee, awarding a corner kick after a yellow card to the Saratoga goalie, forcing an immediate defensive change. The ensuing corner kick landed inside the box, was moved to the top of the box where Makhatadze was again in the right spot at the right time.
“When Kelim (Saijanin) back-heeled it to me and I was right there and I was able to tap it in, that was definitely my favorite,” Makhatadze said.
He then delivered a crushing blow, courtesy of a header punched into the pitch and bounding past the Blue Streaks goalie for his third goal of the afternoon.
“I was just floating around trying to find as much space as I could, get the ball, move it, spread the ball around and then when I had my chances I put them away,” Makhatadze said.
Saratoga avoided the shutout when Evan Farr beat Flint with 16 minutes remaining to cut the lead 3-1.
Early on it was just as Saratoga Springs Coach Jeff Geller had drawn it up.
“That’s our game, every training, that’s what we work on, we always talk before and after games about playing our game and that was our game for the first 15, 20 minutes,” Jeff Geller said. “It was beautiful, fun to watch, effective, keeping the ball for long stretches of time.
“I think that the goal against us kind of deflated us a little bit. We need to learn to rise above when faced with adversity like that and keep it going and it will come eventually when they work hard.”
The series of unfortunate events, the declared corner kick, the yellow card and immediate goal became a teachable moment for the Blue Streaks.
“When you’re playing one of the top teams in the league and you get one against you it’s kind of a punch to the gut,” Geller said. “So Shen took it to us for a little bit and late in the second half we mounted a little bit of a comeback and put on a lot of pressure. We had a chance right in the first minute of the game; Aidan Rice had a chance, so this game could have been 3-1 us or 3-3.
“One of the good things we’ll take away today is that if we face them again we can have a good chance to be competitive with them.”