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Lady Falcons finish regular season
second in the Big 10
The Albany High School
girls' varsity soccer team finished the regular season in second place
in the Big 10 behind Amsterdam.
The Lady Falcons (9-8 overall, 6-4 Big 10)
completed the regular season with a 1-0 loss to Catholic Central at
Bleecker Stadium on Oct. 16. The team now awaits its seeding for the
Class AA playoffs.
Albany led the conference through the first
half of the season and held a one-game lead over Amsterdam after a 7-2
victory over Bishop Gibbons on Oct. 2. Katie Michaelis had two goals in
Albany's highest-scoring game of the season, and Alex Huss, Amanda Villela,
Shantia Hanna, Serafine Mattei-Lownes and Sydney Taylor also scored.
However, four days later a
rocky three-minute
stretch on the road at Amsterdam dropped the Lady Falcons into a first-place tie atop the Big 10.
Leading 1-0 with
halftime approaching, the Lady Falcons surrendered three quick goals in
the final 3:18 of the first half en route to a 3-1 loss Oct. 6. That
left Albany tied with the Lady Rams, who surged down the stretch to win
the conference by two games.
After four comeback victories in their first
eight games left them unbeaten in the conference, the Lady Falcons suffered their first
Big 10 loss at Catholic Central on Sept. 25. Albany also
lost a nonconference game at Cambridge, 3-2 in overtime on Sept. 27. But
the Lady Falcons rebounded with a strong performance and their third win
of the season over Troy.
Comebacks were Albany's specialty through
the first half of the regular season.
At Schenectady on Sept. 23, the Lady Falcons
trailed 2-1 at halftime before Rachel Dias-Carlson and Huss provided the tying
and winning goals, respectively. Read more about the game in
the
Sept. 24 Daily Gazette.
On Sept. 18,
Dias-Carlson
and Michaelis scored second-half goals as the Lady Falcons rallied
for a 2-1 win over conference rival Amsterdam at Bleecker Stadium.
Michaelis’ winning goal and a strong defensive
performance led by Villela helped Albany post its third come-from-behind performance of the season, following
two-goal rallies on the road against Troy (down 2-0 with 15 minutes to
play) and Colonie.
In the 4-3 victory
at Colonie on Sept. 4, it was Huss who carried Albany
back from two goals down for the Lady Falcons’ first victory over a
Suburban Council opponent since 2004.
Coach Jim Grove says
it has been a total team effort so far this season. “Any given game, you
find a different girl stepping up,” he said.
Dias-Carlson and
Michaelis also have been key contributors. Leah Moran and eighth-grader
Alex Kellam have anchored a strong defense. In the Sept. 18 win over
Amsterdam the team unanimously voted Villela the Woman of the Match, and
Hayley Kellam was among a rotation of defenders who helped contain
Schenectady's talented freshman Gab Santorio.
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