GUILDERLAND — coach Gary Chatnik couldn’t explain what happened to his team in Friday’s game.

The Lady Dutch had just lost to Shenendehowa, 15-11, in the Class A Section II semifinals at the University at Albany and Chatnik could not put his finger on what went wrong and wondered what could have been.
"They played well," Chatnik said of Shen. "It was just they got on a roll and we couldn’t stop them."

The loss was even more shocking as the second-seeded Dutch had gotten off to a great start against the third-seeded Plainswomen.

Guilderland jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first seven minutes of the game and a blowout looked to be on the horizon.

But Shen chipped away at the Guilderland lead in the first half — trailing 6-4 at halftime — before eventually taking the lead with 13:56 left in the game on a goal by Claire O’Brien.. O’Brien’s goal was assisted by Tara Akstull.

The Shen run came because the Dutch couldn’t get the ball back after the Plainswomen kept scoring.
"On the draws, they did a good job," Chatnik said. "They got the draws and the ground balls. They controlled the ball for a lot of the game."

Outside of the first seven minutes of the game, the Lady Dutch never seemed to have possession of the ball though they were able to chip into the lead late in the second half.

Dutch senior Kayla Best tried to keep the game close with three goals in the second half. Her final goal made the score 11-10 with 8:19 left.

But Shen scored four times to pull away with the win.
"I just wanted to keep the intensity up," Best said of her second-half play. "We needed someone to start off the comeback."

Best finished the game with five goals. The first started off the early scoring stretch for the Lady Dutch as she scored unassisted with 22:14 to go in the opening half.

Molly Daley made the score 2-0 just 30 seconds later, getting an assist from Kaitlyn Vennard.

Val Felman scored with 21:07 left in the first half with an assist from Abbey Fashouer.

Fashouer then added back-to-back goals. The first was assisted by Amanda Best and the second was on a free position from the eight-meter mark after a Shenendehowa foul and the Dutch led 5-0.

Jacky Papa got the Plainswomen on the scoreboard with 12:40 left in the first half.

Akstull then added a goal to cut the lead to three, 5-2, with 5:55 to go until the intermission.

O’Brien scored her first goal of the game on a free position with 4:23 left in the opening stanza to cut the lead to two.

Then Vennard scored for the Lady Dutch with 3:57 left to build the lead back to three goals.

But Akstull fired a low shot with 11.8 seconds until halftime to give the Plainswomen some momentum.

Best scored the first goal of the second half for the Lady Dutch. Best fired a shot after spinning around a Shen defender.

Scoreless drought

The goal gave the Dutch a 7-4 lead but they would then go on a long scoreless drought and watched Shen come back.

Akstull scored with 20:27 left to get the ball rolling.

Olivia Jarem scored 20 seconds later to cut the lead to one, 7-6. Jarem was assisted by Sarah Novick.

Shen tied the game with 14:53 left in the second half. Jarem scored on a free position.

O’Brien gave Shen the lead less than a minute later and they wouldn’t relinquish it.

Shen scored two more goals to make the score 10-7 before Best scored three of the next four goals to make it a one-goal game with 8:19 left.

Shen scored again on a free position with 7:25 on the clock, which was countered by Guilderland’s Daley with 6:17 left. Daley was assisted by Jen Mihok.

But Shen pulled away with three goals in the final 4:20 of the contest.

Guilderland goalie Jen Kaye finished the game with 12 saves, including some in the second half that kept the game close.

Shen goalies Kim Elsworth and Amanda Distel combined for five saves.
"We didn’t execute," Chatnik said after the game. "We didn’t do what we are capable of."

The Dutch had a couple of substitutes for the game because a few of the girls missed the game to prepare for the junior prom Friday night. But Chatnik said that wasn’t a difference.
"Not at all," Chatnik said when asked if the few subs affected the team. "The people that we needed to win were here."

Moving on

Chatnik felt bad for his seniors who have been a big part of the Guilderland program for a number of years. Many of the seniors have been on the varsity team since they were freshmen and sophomores.
"The seniors did a nice job," Chatnik said. "They will be missed. It was a good year except for tonight. But you have those days. We started off real well. I thought we had a great chance to put them away."

Best will be attending the University at Albany next year and will play lacrosse there. All of the seniors will be playing lacrosse at the next level next year.

Daley will be going to the University of Vermont; Vennard will be going to Quinnipiac University in Connecticut; Feldman will be going to Endicott College in Massachusetts; Mihok will be going to the University of Buffalo; Laura Driessen will be going to Holy Cross College in Massachusetts; and Sam Ruppenthal will be going to the State University of New York College at Oneonta in the fall.
"They will have good college careers," Chatnik said. "They will do a good job and have a lot of success."

Chatnik gets joy out of sending his players to college careers but found that hard to compensate for the disappointment he felt on Friday.
"We expected to be in the finals," he said. "We went into a little tailspin. Shen beat us; they played a nice team game."