SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — With seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter of Tuesday night’s semifinal matchup, the Saratoga Springs High School girl’s lacrosse team’s chances to repeat as sectional champions, seemed slim.
The Blue Streaks matched their largest deficit of the game but found a different level. Down by three, top-seeded Saratoga Springs scored five goals in the final 5:50 of play, including the game-winner from junior midfielder Janie Baringer with 20 seconds remaining, to down four-seed Shenendehowa in the Class A Semifinals, 12-11.
“These girls wanted it so bad and they have so much grit and they just were not going to give up,” Saratoga Springs head coach Jennifer Furze said, postgame. “I’m just so proud of them.”
After Shenedehowa scored with slightly more than one minute remaining to re-tie the game at 11-11, Baringer came from behind the right side of the net and fired one overhand into the net for her second score along the fourth-quarter rally.
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The Blue Streaks started with the ball out of a timeout, where Furze turned it over to her group for their input on the potential game-winning play. This proved to be well-placed trust.
“Everybody put their minds together to see what we thought would work and would execute the best. Janie was patient with it and she waited until the timing was absolutely perfect. They were face-guarding Carly (Wise) super hard and they should have been more worried about Janie,” Furze said on the play call. “They’re out there fighting the fight and we have a plethora of plays that we practice to nauseam and I do appreciate their insight. Typically they serve it up right so it’s ok.
“That play that we ran, I think that works well for us because Carly Wise, one of our top players, is always being face-guarded and being pressured a lot. So, it really helps us and kind of shifts up the defense for her and me, so I think they get stuck behind the crease and it’s just easy for me to roll and see the goal wide open.”
Along with Baringer, the senior Wise was a catalyst in the comeback and constant for the game, as she scored three goals in the fourth, bringing her total to six for the sectional semifinal win. In the first half, senior midfielder Emery Judge netted the team’s first two goals.
Blue Streaks junior goalie Jenna Amodio stopped 12 in net, including 10 in the first half. To set up the first goal down 10-7 with 5:50 to play, Amodio hit sophomore Sarah Berls with a three-quarter field-length pass, that Berls promptly corralled and scored, even through contact warranting a yellow card.
“At practice, she was nailing these long clears all the way up the field to Carly, and when the clock was drowning down (Tuesday), I’m thinking, ‘Oh my god, we gotta get into the attacking end, please let her goalie bomb. I just want one, long goalie bomb,’ and sure enough, Sarah Berls, who had a phenomenal game, read that, she got herself open, stick in the air and Jenna read it and the rest is history.”
“Jenna, I think she’s one of the best goalies in the section, I feel. I might be a little biased because she is our goalie, but I can fully say she’s won so many games for us. She is such a good goalie” Baringer said. “Sarah Berls is one of our strongest ‘middies.’ Her communication on the offensive and defensive sides is just insanely good and she has that communication with Jenna too. So, that was really good. We had talked about communicating and there they were, communicating that, and it worked out in our favor.”
Wise scored 49 seconds later to bring Saratoga Springs within one and one minute after that, with four to play in the final quarter, Berls netted her second goal, off a free position, extra-girl-up opportunity to tie the game.
“We have gone through ups and downs with this team, but I think that’s always pushed us and driven us to want to win and want to get back to sectionals, especially the final game,” Baringer said.
“I think we were almost getting down on ourselves, but we told ourselves, ‘We need to keep up his energy, work now, and try to communicate more,’ and that’s exactly what we did. I think we definitely stepped up as a team and communicated a lot more. Our energy just totally changed kept going and going and went on a run there. Our energy just kept getting better after each goal.”
While posting an 11-4 record (9-2 Suburban Council) during the regular season to garner the top seed, Saratoga Springs hadn’t played a game in two weeks (May 7) before Tuesday’s matchup with Shenendehowa.
Alleviating the pressure of a title defense and staying loose during the break from competition, Furze and the team had some remedies on hand.
“We had a big team picnic at my house, which was a lot of fun. We actually watched the Shen game (quarterfinal) together; these girls are not only connected on the field, they’re connected off the field and I think it really bodes well for us on the field,” Furze said. “We do a lot of mindful activities on this team, a lot of deep breathing, a lot of meditation and I talked to the girls about the importance of staying in the moment and winning the moment right now, and not thinking about the end game because that can be a little bit overwhelming. We’ll worry about that when we get there.”
The Lady Plainsmen gave the Blue Streaks a run to start their 2024 postseason, as the visitors used a 5-1 scoring advantage in the third quarter alone to open up a 9-6 lead, going into the eventful final frame. Freshman Macy Zeilman paced the group with four goals, while senior attack Chloe Scanlon went for two scores and five assists. Last year’s postseason, semifinal meeting was also decided by one goal, with Saratoga Springs on top, 14-13.
“I think they’re a very strong team, they’re well coached, they came to win and it is what it is. It was just not their day,” Furze said, regarding the Lady Plainsmen.
Saratoga Springs advances to the 2024 Section 2 Class A Championship game to meet with two-seed Colonie on Tuesday, May 28, at 7 p.m. All girl’s lacrosse sectional final games are being held at Schuylerville High School, Saratoga Springs hoisted a Section 2 title plaque and later lost in the New York State Tournament’s sub-regionals a season ago.
“I think the emotions are pretty high,” Baringer said. “I think we’re going into this positive, we’re not going in too confident, but we know that it’s gonna be a tough challenge no matter what.”
“Coming back to that field, we almost call it like a ‘home advantage,’ since we did win there last year.”
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