Sports Archives — The Altamont Enterprise, October 27, 2011
Lady Dutch win Suburban Council: Area soccer teams gearing up for playoffs
By Jordan J. Michael
It’s time for sectional soccer playoffs as the Section II regular season wrapped up this week. Here’s the outlook for Guilderland, Voorheesville, and Berne-Knox-Westerlo:
–– The Lady Dutch (12-2-2) of Guilderland are Suburban Council South champions for the first time since 1977. That’s a long time in between titles, but this team has looked impressive this year.
Under new Head Coach Curt Snyder, the Dutch are getting many scoring opportunities by spreading the field wide and never letting down intensity. The attack is led by Lauren Kogelmann, Laurie Knapp, Jessica Capone, Marissa Cubillos, Michaela Maybee, and Kara Carman. Jenna Cubello has done well in the nets and Guilderland’s defense has given up only 17 goals.
The Lady Dutch get a first-round bye in Class AA as the third seed, and will play the winner of the Shaker-Colonie game on Nov.1 at home at 3 p.m. Guilderland has two wins over Colonie this season, but tied (2-2) at Shaker on Sept. 20. A meeting with Shaker could stir things up, but Guilderland is a superior team right now.
–– After having another decent record against the highly competitive Colonial Council this season, the Voorheesville (9-4-2) boys landed an eight seed in Class C.
“No matter the seed, you’ll have to beat everyone anyways,” said Head Coach Willie Sanchez this week. The Blackbirds have only three seniors, but have a talented core of younger players.
Voorheesville will host ninth-seeded Schoharie at 3 p.m. today in the first round of Class C. The Birds beat Schoharie in 2009 for a sectional title.
–– The Lady Blackbirds (9-6-1) and the Lady Bulldogs (10-4-1) will square off in Berne on Friday at 3 p.m. for the right to move on in Class C. BKW is the eight seed and Voorheesville is the nine.
The Birds have won a handful of playoff games in its history, including a sectional title. The Bulldogs last won a first-round sectional game in 2001, but lost in the second round. Voorheesville’s Emma Simpson and BKW’s Delaney Martin have each scored 11 goals this season. Liz Harvey is third in Section II in save percentage for BKW.
This should be an intriguing match-up, and not just because The Enterprise is guaranteed to be covering a winner.
–– The Dutchmen went 2-3-1 over its last six games to end the regular season as the team prepares for a home Class AA playoff game against LaSalle on Friday at 3 p.m. Guilderland (8-5-3) is the fourth seed from the Suburban Council and LaSalle (9-7-0) is the fourth seed from the Big Ten.
To LaSalle’s credit, it has a 1-to-0 win over Albany, the number-one seed from the Big Ten. However, the Suburban Council is a stronger league. Guilderland hasn’t let in many goals this season (22), but LaSalle has scored nine more goals as a team (34).
A few weeks ago, Dutch Head Coach Mike Kinnally said that his team’s attack has been a little tentative this season. Guilderland will need to score more goals if it plans on advancing.
–– The BKW boys will not be competing in the Class C playoffs after finishing 3-12-1 in the Western Athletic Conference South. The team scored 21 goals, while giving up 41. BKW lost its last seven games by a combined score of 21 to 6.