By Jordan J. Michael

BUFFALO –– Beth Meyers, of Guilderland, tries to stop goals while her younger sister, Megan, tries to score goals.

Megan, a rising junior at Guilderland, scored the winning penalty shot on Sunday against Western that earned the Adirondack field hockey team a bronze medal at the Empire State Summer Games in Buffalo. Beth, who will be attending Siena College next fall, made four saves in goal.

Since Beth and Megan play on opposite sides of the field, they basically have no interaction during a game. Megan focuses on her opponent’s goal and Beth concentrates on her own.

“We don’t talk much at all during a game,” said Beth after a 6-to-1 loss to Hudson Valley on Friday. “We’ll talk about it during the ride home.”

Beth is the only returning player from the 2008 Adirondack team. Megan joined her sister for the Games this summer after the pair played together on Guilderland’s varsity team last fall.

“I didn’t really know what field hockey was before I played, but I saw what Beth was doing,” said Megan. “I tried it out and enjoyed myself. I played some defense and then realized I’d rather score goals.”

“She started out on defense, but really didn’t know what she was doing,” Beth said of Megan. “We moved her around a lot at first.”

Strong finish

Adirondack didn’t seem to be in good shape for a medal after losing its first two games by big margins. Central beat Adirondack, 5 to 0, in the first game last Thursday.

“Adirondack is known as the nicey-nice region,” Beth said after losing to Hudson Valley, the eventual gold medalists, on Friday. “Other teams always beat us up.”

Clearly, Beth’s confidence was down after two bad losses, but Adirondack bounced back and won its last three games over Western, Long Island, and Western again for the bronze.

“We need to show more hustle,” said Megan, after Friday’s loss.

“We’re always looking for boys between games,” Beth said. “It might be affecting our play.”

Either way, the Meyers’ sisters and their teammates got focused somewhere between Friday and Sunday to win a medal.