Albany High varsity soccer teams capture
Big 10 titles
 For
the first time in school history, Albany High School's varsity soccer
teams won outright Big 10 championships in the same season in 2009.
In coach Dave Weiss' third season, the boys' team turned in an
impressive unbeaten regular season to claim the conference title for the
first time since 2005. Led by Big 10 MVP Matt Wu on defense and senior
Owen Daniels on offense, the Falcons went 12-0-2 in conference play.
Albany beat Columbia 2-0 in the first round of the playoffs Oct. 28 --
with Wu and Daniels scoring the goals -- before dropping a season-ending
3-0 quarterfinal decision to defending Class AA champion Guilderland at
Bleecker Stadium on Nov. 2.
That was the first game of an Albany soccer doubleheader in which the
Lady Falcons followed with their first-round game against Colonie.
After the teams played to a 1-1 tie through
regulation and four overtime periods, Colonie outshot Albany 3-2 on
penalty kicks to advance. Big 10 MVP Katie Michaelis scored her 19th
goal of the season for the Lady Falcons (12-5), who won their first
outright Big 10 title in school history under first-year coach Pete
Anderson after sharing the championship with Amsterdam in 2003.
You can
read more about the boys' team's conference-clinching game at Troy in the Oct. 21 Times Union.
You also can
read more about the Falcons' success in the Oct. 7 Times Union.
You can
read more about the Lady Falcons' championship season in the Oct. 22
Times Union.
The conference championships were the crown jewels in a marquee season for the district’s soccer program.
The boys’ JV team, 27-4-1 the past two seasons with a pair of Big 10
titles, finished 13-1 this season and won a third straight conference
title. The Falcons
outscored opponents 90-5.
Both modified teams also won their conference championships -- the boys
with just one loss and the girls with a 9-3-1 record after winning just
one game combined the past two seasons.
For the boys' varsity, outstanding defensive play was the
trademark of the unbeaten regular season.
Wu, Zach Lauzon, Peter Swierzowski and Kevin Robinson were
nearly unbeatable in front of junior
goalie David Stempsey for much of the season. The Falcons went more than five weeks without
allowing a goal, from Sept. 11 at Albany Academy to Oct. 20 at Troy, and
never allowed more than one goal in a game during the regular season.
The Falcons displayed a dogged commitment to
Weiss’ system and a knack for wearing down opponents with patience,
conditioning and drive.
“The biggest thing with this team is that at the end of the game we’re
still playing the same game and other teams are panicking,” said
assistant coach Mike Justice.
In 2007, then-sophomores Wu and Daniels converted dramatic overtime
goals to give the Falcons wins over Suburban Council opponents Saratoga
Springs and Colonie in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
Their clutch moments helped Albany to the sectional semifinals for the
first time since the Falcons’ 18-1-1 season of 1983, the last time a Big
10 team had reached the semis in the Suburban-dominated large-school
bracket.
As seniors in 2009, Wu, Daniels and fellow third-year varsity player Kevin Tuffey once again
were central figures in Albany’s success.
Wu was the relentless leader of the Falcons’ defense, recognized
by his MVP recognition in the conference. Daniels was the
team’s leading scorer and one of the top scorers in Section II with
12 goals and nine assists. He was recognized by the Times Union
at the season’s halfway point as an emerging star in Capital Region
boys’ soccer and also as a first-team Big 10 all-star.
Tuffey, a second-team Big 10 all-star, scored the only goal in the biggest win through the first half of
the conference schedule, a rain-soaked 1-0 victory at LaSalle on Sept.
29.
Add in the outstanding play of highly regarded sophomores Marty Ryan (a
first-team Big 10 all-star) and
Stefano Sainato (11 goals and a second-team Big 10 all-star), Stempsey’s
emergence in his second varsity season and the intangible qualities of a
talented group that has in large measure played together on club and
school teams for years, and the makings of a special season were in
place.
“Our motto is ‘11 as 1,’” Justice said, “and that’s the way they
played.”
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