VOORHEESVILLE — The Voorheesville boys’ soccer team scored early but not often in a 1-0 win over Cohoes on Tuesday.

The Blackbirds got a goal early in the first half but couldn’t connect on 25 other shots.
"We have a tendancy to play at the pace our opponents play," said Voorheesville’s first-year coach, Michael Young. "Cohoes wanted to play slow. The pace of the game will come. It’s so early. We have a lot of people that can score."

The win improves Voorheesville’s record to 2-1-1 in the Colonial Council and the Birds are 3-2-1 overall.

The lone goal came in the first five minutes of the contest as senior Greg Klopfer, who has been the top scorer in the league the past two seasons, finished a shot after getting a pass from Josh Handen.

Handen chipped the ball over the defense and Klopfer ran it down and had a one-versus-one with the Cohoes goalie, Matt Nolin.

Voorheesville couldn’t connect on another scoring opportunity. Shots either went wide of the goal, over the goal, or were saved by Nolin.

Nolin finished with 19 saves for the Tigers.

Voorheesville senior Greg Jones missed some headers off corner kicks and classmate Kyle Hatch missed some shots wide in the first half.

Cohoes did not have as many scoring opportunities as they were credited with only five shots.

Joe Cioffi had some opportunities for the Tigers in the game but blasted a few shots over the goal.

Voorheesville goalies Tom Cavanaugh and Lee Fenner combined to make just three saves in the game to get the shutout.
"A lot of it was Cohoes," Young said. "They played well and didn’t give up. You take something away from the game when the other team plays as hard as they did."

Voorheesville gave Cohoes some opportunities to score with fouls deep in their territory.
"We have to adjust our play and adjust how we play," Young said. "Because we are physical, sometimes we get calls against us. We have to adjust, because the officials will call what they want to call."

The Blackbirds were missing two players — Jeff Bode and Matt Miller — due to injuries.
"We have injuries to key players," Young said. "It’s giving an opportunity to the young guys. We played a couple of freshmen and sophomores and they are learning the pace of varsity."

The Blackbirds are coming off a pair of losses in their last two games.

The Birds lost to Mayfield, coached by Voorheesville’s former coach, Bob Crandall, in the championship game of Mayfield’s tournament.
"We lost 1-0 on penalty kicks," Young said. "I give all the credit to Bob and his kids. They slowed the game down on us. We had our opportunities."

The Blackbirds also lost to Schalmont last Wednesday by a goal and tied Albany Academy in the first game of the year. The Birds beat Gloversville in the first game of the Mayfield Tournament and Ravena in a league contest.
"You can’t argue with the results," Young said. "It is just as close as last year and all the teams are still good. Against Schalmont we had the same number of shots and we lost by a goal. We can take that from that game and continue to get better."

The Blackbirds don’t play again until Saturday morning when they host Mechanicville as part of homecoming weekend. Voorheesville then will play at Broadalbin-Perth on Monday and then host Lansingburgh on Wednesday.