GUILDERLAND — It was only fitting that Friday’s regular-season finale for the Guilderland girls’ lacrosse team was on television because the players were stars.

The game, shown on the local Time Warner Cable channel, was action packed as the Lady Dutch beat their nemesis, Bethlehem, 11-6, and for the first time ever won the Suburban Council championship.
"It definitely feels good," said senior goalie Jen Kaye after the game. "We want to leave our mark on Guilderland lacrosse and the section."

The outcome will provide something that the girls on the team have wanted for a long time — a banner. But they want the piece of cloth hanging in the gym to say more than Suburban Council Champions.
"There are two more things we want to go up there," Kaye said. "Sectional champions and state champions."

The Lady Dutch will start the road for those two goals a little later than originally planned. Guilderland will get a bye in the sectional quarterfinals and will head straight to the semifinals on Wednesday, May 23.

The Dutch are the number-one seed in the Class A Section II tournament and will host the event, weather permitting.

The win also came on a special night for the four seniors on the Lady Dutch squad — Kaye, Nikki Branchini, Julie Malkowski, and Lynn Tran.
"Doing this on Senior Night makes it much more meaningful," Kaye said.

Bethlehem handed the Lady Dutch the season’s only loss, 9-6, on April 19. It was a game that any Guilderland player would say she didn’t play well.

"Off to the races"

There were no problems with the Lady Dutch’s play on Friday. They moved the ball around with precision and used their tremendous team speed to swarm the Eagles on the defensive end of the field and to rush the goal on the offensive half of the field.
"That is the beauty of this team," said Guilderland Coach Gary Chatnik. "We get the ball and we’re off to the races. We have good team speed."

The Lady Dutch scored first as sophomore Amanda Best connected on a free position shot after a Bethlehem foul near the eight-meter mark. Best fired her shot high past the Bethlehem goalie.

The Eagles evened the game with 19:48 left when Tee Ladoucer tallied off a hard drive to the goal.

Guilderland took the lead on a goal by Abbey Fashoeur with 18:26 left in the opening half.

Danielle Tetreault added to the lead off an assist from Branchini. Branchini drove to the goal and found Tetreualt who was open and converted the pass into a score.

Branchini scored a goal of her own with 9:05 left in the first frame. She fired a shot that was saved but was able to scoop the loose ball into the goal for the tally and made the score, 4-1.

Branchini scored again for the Lady Dutch to make the score 5-1. Branchini was assisted by Fashoeur on the goal.

Bethlehem got the first goal of the second half. Erica Hill tallied an unassisted goal to cut the lead to three, 5-2.

Bridget Daley answered for the Lady Dutch with 21:58 left in the half. Tetreault found Daley wide-open in front of the goal and Daley was able to convert.

After Kayleigh Hynes kept Bethlehem in the game with a goal with 20:39 left in the contest, Guilderland scored the next three goals.

Chelsey Newman scored her first goal of the contest on a free position after a Bethlehem foul. Amanda Best scored an unassisted goal for the Lady Dutch to make the score, 8-3, with 18:49 left to go in the game.

Courtney Davis scored the third unanswered goal on a free position after a foul on the Bethlehem goalie, which forced the keeper to be out of the goal on the re-start. Davis easily scored on the open net and the goal gave the Dutch a 9-3 lead and was a back-breaker for the Eagles.

Hynes scored two goals around a tally by Fashouer. Hynes scored with 14:40 left and 8:33 left in the contest for the Eagles. Fashouer scored with 14:18 left off an assist from Jen Madsen.

Guilderland took a six-goal lead as Newman scored the final goal for Guilderland in the game with 8:05 left. Tetreault assisted on the score.

Ladoucer scored the final goal in the game as she connected on an assisted goal with 2:26 left.

Kaye made seven saves in goal for Guilderland. Rae Mahon made four saves for Bethlehem.

"Play every game like its our last"

The Lady Dutch get an extended break as not all the teams in Class A decided to compete in the sectional tournament. Guilderland will get the bye and advance to the semifinals where it will be facing a tough team.
"We can’t get overconfident," Chatnik said Friday night. "We have to take them one at a time. This is a nice win. It’s nice for our confidence. It was a nice night."

The win was superb for the Lady Dutch’s confidence as Bethlehem has been the Suburban Council and sectional champion for the past eight years.

But the seniors on the Dutch and their coach are looking ahead and not taking any team lightly.
"We have more to accomplish," Tran said. "This is our last year and our last chance at sectionals. This year we want to go all the way."
"We can’t take anyone lightly," Kaye added. "We have to play every game like it’s our last game."

The league championship is just one of many goals the Dutch want to accomplish.
"This is just one step," Chatnik said. "It was the league championship and it means a lot to the girls. The sectionals will mean more. We’ve come this far; we want to complete it."