Section 10 pair falls in state play

COLONIE — The state tournament came to a similar conclusion for the Potsdam Central and Norwood-Norfolk boys soccer teams on Wednesday at the Colonie High School field.

With jetliners regularly passing overhead on their way in and out of nearby Albany International Airport, the two Section 10 champions both dropped hard-fought 2-0 decisions to their Section 2 counterparts after having battled them to scoreless halftime draws.

CLASS B

BROADALBIN-PERTH 2,

POTSDAM 0

In a Class B opening round game where the majority of the action took place near midfield, Broadalbin-Perth (17-1-2) outshot the Sandstoners 7-1 and scored twice in the final 14 minutes of regulation to advance to the quarterfinals. Potsdam's lone shot came off the foot of senior Marty LaFleur with 15 minutes, 19 seconds remaining in the second half. The Patriots countered by netting their first goal less than two minutes later when Steve Sullivan scored on a header off a corner kick from Vincent Zaluski with 13:39 left.

Alessandro Macchiarelli finished the scoring with 6:25 left in the game after trapping the ball on a throw-in then turning to blast home a shot from 25 yards out.

"That corner kick they got, we just weren't ready for it. That goal took the wind out of our sails," said Potsdam coach Mike Germano whose team finished the season at 9-7-3. "We had a good run this year and finished strong after a slow start. They were a good team today. We played well the first half. In the second half, we didn't play well and they took us out of our game a bit.

"They were a little more physical then us in the last 20 minutes or so. But we played hard and I'm proud of them. We've come a long ways this year with all the injuries early in the season."

Jared LaPorte didn't make a save in the shutout. Nick Monast made two saves for Potsdam.

"They made a good run and represented themselves well," said Germano, who expects to step down as varsity boys soccer coach when he retires from teaching at Potsdam next spring. "Next year's team is young. We're only losing a few seniors and we've got some nice sophomores coming up to go with our juniors. This team will be very strong next season."

CLASS C

WATERFORD-HALFMOON 2,

NORWOOD-NORFOLK 0

The first matchup of the doubleheader, saw Waterford-Halfmoon (18-2) dodge two early first half chances by the Flyers (8-8-2) when Thomas Plumb and Ben Purvis both got off shots on Fordian keeper Ryan Hardy before the game was eight minutes old. But Hardy's quick reaction denied both attempts.

Ten minutes later, Jesse Williams sent a shot from 25 yards out that went just over the crossbar for the Flyers, who went on to play even the rest of the first half in settling for the scoreless halftime tie.

Zac Lennon and David Lee pressed the Flyers early in the second half, but Pat Durant made a key stop on Lee with 30:28 remaining. Pressing further, Lee sent a short pass to Fre Breen, a sophomore, who challenged Durant to a foot race and got a shot off for a goal with 15 minutes left in regulation.

The Fordians cashed in once more with 1:58 remaining when Breen turned on a shot from 30 yards out and buried it just inside the right post.

"I thought we played pretty well," said Norwood-Norfolk coach Don Peterson. "I felt whatever end of the field you got today played a factor on how well you did. In the first half with the wind, the wind helped create some opportunities for us. In the second half, they had the better chances in their end."

Peterson said they expected to face some talented players when they drew Waterford-Halfmoon.

"That first goal, our goaltender came out just like he was supposed to. He just ran into a very fast player," he said. "Breen and Lemon were two very good players that we knew they had. I thought we did a good job defending (Breen's) speed. We definitely played a very good game. We've been preparing for this game for several days."

Hardy finished with five saves for Waterford-Halfmoon who had a 10-5 shot advantage. Durant handled eight.

"The wind did play some factor," said Waterford coach Fred Engleman. "Both halves for each team, the wind had something to do with the offense."