BLUE BISON OUST BLUE STREAKS 2-0
Shaker scored two first-half goals to beat Saratoga Springs in the AA quarterfinals
Shaker girls team scored two early goals then held on to beat Saratoga Springs 2-0 in the first round of Section II Class AA Sectionals Friday at Saratoga Springs High School.
Shaker coach Dan Lindemann said getting the quarterfinal win is huge for his team.
“From last year’s group to this year, we had 15 new players, so a very young group” Lindemann said. “They have been working hard all year to get to this point and they came in and did a fantastic job. We are looking forward to what’s next.”
Shaker started fast, getting the ball into Saratoga territory early. Julia Roemer managed to get into the box, receive a pass from Hannah Guidi and sneak it past goalie Lexi Bakkalapulo to make it 1-0 barely three minutes into the game.
“Usually Hannah and I connect a lot, so it was meant to be I guess,” Roemer said. “She just always plays me that ball, somehow I always get on it, cut it right in front of the goal and just got my head on it and placed it right in.”
The Blue Streaks managed to keep the ball in the Bison zone
for a period of time, but Shaker knocked it out and was awarded a corner. Maggie O’Rourke sent in a dangerous ball that bounced off Bakkalapulo’s hands then off Tess Turner’s head and went into the net to make it 2-0.
Lindemann said the two early goals were a change for his team.
“It is huge, especially in sectionals, to score three minutes into the game, it definitely puts us on the positive end of that,” Lindemann said. “It has been happening against us all year. We have been giving up those goals to put ourselves in a whole, but it was great. We trained all week to play Saratoga. They are a great team; they have given us a hard time in the three years I have been here. We managed to get over their hurdle a little bit and we did a great job planning for them and it worked.”
Bakkalapulo was replaced by Natalie Jillson soon after, who remained in goal for the rest of the game. Saratoga had one big chance in the first half, with the ball being worked into Helena Bartlett, but she she was ruled to be offsides. That kept the score 2-0 heading into halftime.
Saratoga Springs coach Adrienne Dannehy said her team played a strong second half, but couldn’t get a goal.
“Our game plan was to get it out of the back and have numbers up,” Dannehy said. “We were already down 2-0, so at that point let’s get numbers up, let’s put the pressure on them to get the ball out and we were doing it, we were pressuring. That is what we asked for, that’s what they did and it just didn’t go in the back of the net.”
In the second half, Saratoga Springs used a heavy offensive attack to keep the ball on Shaker’s end. The Blue Streaks managed seven shots on goal, four from Abby Ray, two from Julia DiMenna and one from Makayala Booth, but couldn’t get the ball past Blue Bison goal keeper Bria LaBella.
As the game wore on, Shaker ate up clock by playing short corners to keep the ball away from the hosts. Saratoga had one more chance with 50 seconds left to get on the board, but the corner was knocked away by Shaker to end the contest.
Lindemann said his team was ready for Saratoga to be aggressive in the second half.
“You expected that coming in the second half with a 2-0 lead, that the other team is probably going to put it right down the field nonstop,” Lindemann said. “We talked about it and we did a great job staying organized, composed and nothing was going to beat us over the top. They did very well as a group and handled it very well.”
Saratoga’s season ends with a 9-6-2 record.
Dannehy said she is proud of what her team did this season.