BERNE — What Jim Gillis has on his soccer team at Berne-Knox-Westerlo is a group of good athletes. What he needs is a true soccer player.

The Bulldog players have used their athleticism to win a few games and stay close in a lot of them.

But the results are not as great as one might expect. BKW has a 4-12-2 overall record and a 2-10-2 record in the Western Athletic Conference.

BKW finished the regular season with a 4-1 loss to Schenectady Christian on Friday. Then Gillis decided to bring his to team to play in the Class CC Section II tournament. The Bulldogs played a first-round game against Greenwich on Wednesday. The Bulldogs were seeded 11th and had to travel to the village in Washington County to take on the sixth-seeded Witches.
"We’ve stayed in some games," said BKW Coach Jim Gillis. "Lots of times we’ve been out in the beginning. And we have a couple of losses that shouldn’t be losses if we get one break here or there. We were up on Schoharie, 2-0, with 14 minutes left, and we end up tying. We lost in overtime to [Saratoga] Spa Catholic."
"We played with them"

Last Friday, the Bulldogs fell behind, 3-0, in the first half. BKW missed a couple of great opportunities to score in the opening half. The best was a head ball by Curtis Clark, which went wide of the goal.
"We had a golden chance early to go up 1-0," Gillis said. "That has been our problem all year long. We don’t score and then we do something stupid."

BKW was holding the Falcons out of the goal, until late in the 40-minute half.

A handball near the BKW goal gave Schenectady Christian a penalty shot, which Magnus Balters easily converted for a goal with 12 minutes left until halftime.

R.J. Gallup made the score 2-0 with 9:48 left in the half and Balters scored later in the half to give the Falcons a 3-0 lead.

Balters got the hat trick early in the second half. He scored with 28:03 left to give Schenectady Christian a 4-0 lead.

BKW finally got on the scoreboard with 23:35 left in the game. Justin Coon scored with an assist from Ben Burton.

But BKW could not get any closer.
"The penalty kick was unlucky," Gillis said. "It hits him in the hands. And their third goal was on a great shot. He stuck it in the inside post. But I think we played with them. Last time, we didn’t even play with them."

Junior goalie Greg Hannay made 11 saves for the Bulldogs. Schenectady Christian goalie Bryan Bishop made nine saves.

The Bulldogs out-shot the Falcons, 17-16, in the contest and the corner kick opportunities were even, 6-6.

"A struggle to score"

Even though the Bulldogs had opportunities, they still couldn’t score, and that has been a problem for BKW all season.
"It’s been a struggle to score goals," Gillis said. "We hang in there for awhile and, when we get a shot, we put it wide or right at the keeper."

But Gillis has seen improvement in his team and the athleticism went up when three players joined the team late. Matt Lounsbury, Josh Skinner, and Burton all joined the team a few games into the season.
"They asked to play," Gillis said. "They have given athleticism to our play, but they don’t score goals. I would take someone that can score goals like Schenectady Christian has.
"They are not soccer players," Gillis added. "We don’t have any kids playing travel soccer [during the off-season]. I know if I have to have a kid take a free throw, I want a basketball player who has been in that position before."
"Working harder"

The Bulldogs will lose the three newcomers at the end of the season as they are all seniors. The other seniors on the team are Joey Conklin, Keith Cunningham, Greg Mulson, Brazilian exchange student Igor Silva, Sam Viscio, Dave White, and Pat Whitney.

Cunningham, and Mulson along with Hannay, a junior, are the captains of the team.
"The kids are working harder than in the past," Gillis said. "They are athletes, and they need to transfer that into scoring goals. It’s hard to do."

And because of that hard work, Gillis decided to take the team to sectionals.
"The kids are working hard again and we had some shots at games," Gillis said on Monday. "We’ll have to travel somewhere."

Sectional play will also help some of his younger players — again BKW did not have a junior varsity team — gain experience.

Gillis starts a bunch of young kids in the back on defense.
"Brandon Galgay has been great for a freshman," the coach said. "He’s been my sweeper. He’s a tough kid.
"Jacob Tambasco has been starting as outside defender," Gillis added. "He’s been playing well. We get Hannay back, and Michael Galgay has also gotten a number of starts and has played good at times. And Curtis Clark is playing well."

The defense looks to be strong in the future, but Gillis will still be looking for some goal-scorers.
"We’ll try to improve in the middle and up top," Gillis said. "We should be good in the middle to the back."