GUILDERLAND — When the lights are shining brightest, the Lady Dutch are at there best.

They were again Thursday night, and they made a little history, too.

The Guilderland girls’ lacrosse team won its first Section II title with a 9-7 victory over Shaker at the University at Albany. The Lady Dutch are the first team not from Saratoga or Bethlehem to win the sectional title in Class A girls’ lacrosse.
"I’m speechless right now," said senior Co-Captain Nikki Branchini. "I can’t believe it. But we worked so hard for this."

The season came to an end for the Lady Dutch on Sunday afternoon as they lost in their state quarterfinal contest, 12-7, to Lakeland of Section I.

But the lights shone on Thursday night for the Lady Dutch as the four seniors on the team were handed the plaque and raised it above their heads in triumph. The Dutch players were not just happy with the win, but relieved to have survived a contest against a tough Shaker team.
"We knew it would be a tough game," Julie Malkowski, one of the team’s seniors said.
"Especially after last time," Branchini added.

Last time the Lady Dutch and the Blue Bison got together, it took five overtimes for the game to be decided, resulting in a Guilderland win.
"We left it all on the field tonight," Lynn Tran, another senior captain, said of Thursday’s win.

Tough start

Guilderland fell behind, 2-0, in the span of a minute. After five minutes of scoreless play, Shaker got a goal from Abigail Rehfuss at the 19:43 mark. About 30 seconds later, Kat Thomas gave the Blue Bison a two-goal lead.

But, after Guilderland Coach Gary Chatnik made an adjustment, the Lady Dutch got their first goal of the game.
"We were rushing our plays," the coach said. "When we run our offense, our plays give us a half-dozen options. What we were doing is just going to option one. We were not keeping the ball in our sticks early on. So I moved Nikki back on offense and she ran plays.
"She is a senior and has played for sectional championships in field hockey and basketball," Chatnik said of Branchini. "She made a pass to Chelsea [Newman] and she nailed it. That was a big goal."
"We got off to a slow start," Branchini said. "Then we got the momentum."

That was the first goal of the contest for the Lady Dutch and Branchini’s pass to a cutting Newman showed her play-making ability.

Newman, a freshman, finished off the pass and Guilderland cut the lead in half with 18:23 left in the first half.

The Dutch evened the game with 11:38 left in the half. Sophomore Jen Madsen tallied on an unassisted goal to make the score 2-2.

Guilderland dominated play for the rest of the half, scoring four times to hold a 6-2 lead at the intermission.

Sophomore Danielle Tetreault scored to give the Lady Dutch the lead with 5:45. She converted on a one-on-one with the goalie for an easy goal.

Newman scored her second goal of the contest with 4:16 left in the half. She drove to the goal, beat a defender, and fired a high shot past the Shaker goalie.

Tetreault scored for the second time this time off an assist from Abbey Fashouer. Tetreault tallied again with 1:47 left until halftime. Madsen assisted on the goal that put the Lady Dutch up 6-2.

Kaye makes the big saves

Shaker started off the second half strong and had two great shots from Rehfuss that were stopped by even more incredible saves from Guilderland goalie Jen Kaye.

Tetreault scored her fourth goal of the contest just two-and-a-half minutes into the 25-minute half. She was assisted on the goal by Courtney Davis.

But Shaker struck back for three unanswered goals — two from Thomas and one by Caroline Rehfuss.

With the score 7-5 and with 16:56 left in the contest, Fashouer scored on a free position after a Shaker foul.

Again the momentum swung in Guilderland’s favor, and Tetreault scored her fifth — and final — goal of the contest. Her unassisted tally came with 10:38 to go in the game.

The goal gave the Dutch a four-goal lead, 9-5.

But the Blue Bison did not go down without a fight.

Thomas scored again for Shaker with 10:04 left in the game and Emma Risler scored the final goal of the contest with 6:39 left.

Shaker continued to pressure the goal in the final minutes but Kaye made some big and spectacular saves to keep the Lady Dutch’s lead safe.

And as the final seconds ticked off the clock, the Dutch players all converged on their savior and celebrated the team’s first-ever championship.

Kaye made seven saves in the contest and Shaker goalie Clare Littlefield made five stops.
"They have some players that can put the ball into the net," Kaye said of Shaker. "I was seeing the ball really well. I was seeing it all the way and I was able to stop it."
"Part of that was their shot selection," Branchini said. "They did not shoot to her stick."
"Especially at the end when she makes saves," Malkowski said. "It really pumps us up. She makes a good save and we’re able to clear it."
"We know that we are going to give up goals," Chatnik said. "But we ask our goalies to make the big save. And Jen made big save after big save. She was outstanding."

Kaye got help from her experienced defense that included Malkowski, Tran, and most of the time Branchini.
"We played really well tonight," Kaye said last Thursday. "We controlled their top players. We were able to shut them off. They were not dominating."
"We made the defensive plays," Chatnik said. "But we got testy with the ball throughout the game."

"No regrets"

This trip to the finals for the Lady Dutch was the second in three years. They lost in the title game to Bethlehem in 2005. The win last Thursday is a bit of redemption for a semifinal loss to Shenendehowa last year.
"We really wanted this," Kaye said. "Especially after the loss in last year’s semifinals. That drove me and the three other seniors, and the other players really embraced it. We did not want that to happen again."

But the Lady Dutch also had another motto heading into the championship game.
"Our athletic director [Wayne Bertrand] told to have no regrets," Branchini said.
"It inspired us," Malkowski added.

The sectional title is a perfect cap for the Lady Dutch, who hadn’t lost a game since April 20. It was an impressive 12-game winning streak that had its tough moments.
"I thought at the beginning of the year we had the talent to win," Chatnik said. "We were young but we were growing each game. And we had that win against Shaker in five overtimes and Meera [Chappidi] scored. That was probably the biggest goal of the year. Since then we have really taken off."