SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — This past season, the Saratoga Springs High School girls lacrosse team won the Section 2 Class A Championship for the second straight year. Also for the second time in as many seasons, the team watched as visiting, Section I’s Suffern, celebrated after ending their season in the Regional stages of the NYSPHSAA playoffs.
In 2023, the Blue Streaks were eliminated in the Sub-Regional round, via a 9-7 loss to the Mounties. In the 2024 Regional Championship, on Saturday, June 1, the Blue Streaks again fell by two goals, this time by a final score of 10-8 at Queensbury High School.
However, while the outcome may not have been much different, Saratoga Springs head coach Jennifer Furze wanted to make sure the feeling postgame would be. She reminded the group some things are bigger than wins, losses, and even championships.
“We were all understandably upset and disappointed but as we huddled up with tears, I asked the girls to look over at the stands at the number of supporters that they have rallied this season. I have never seen the crowds that we saw at our games this season,” Furze wrote via email.
“I also wanted them to remember that they have accomplished such incredible goals this season both on and off the field and what I am most proud of is the nearly $14,000 they raised for pediatric cancer,” Furze noted.
While coming into the season as still the defending champs of Section 2’s Class A, Saratoga Springs had also suffered a significant loss to its school and athletic community, with the passing of senior Olivia Allen, due to Leukemia, this past March.
“We were determined to channel the grief we were all experiencing into something positive,” Furze said.
They did precisely that, as the Blue Streaks won each of their first five games and eventually capped off the first full month of their season with a ‘LaCrosse Out Cancer,’ matchup versus Jamesville-Dewitt, where the team presented a donation of their more than $10,000 raised to the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation.
As Furze mentioned, the donations didn’t stop coming throughout the season.
“Liv was an amazing soul and her spirit will live on through all of us,” Furze wrote. “Our plan is to continue the tradition of the ‘LaCrosse out cancer’ game and fundraiser each year to honor Olivia and continue her fight!”
Additionally, milestone achievements came pouring in on the field, such as junior goalie Jenna Amodio recording career save No. 400, and senior attacker Carly Wise surpassing the 300-career goal (302) mark.
Wise, a senior committed to play women’s lacrosse for NCAA Divison I Clemson University next fall, scored six goals in each of the defending champions’ two, Sectional playoff victories, and five in the season finale versus Suffern.
“As the end of the season grew near and Carly was getting closer to 300 I knew I needed to let her know where she was at with her goal count but I was definitely nervous about it,” Furze said. “Without progressing through sectional play a bit, she would have fallen just shy of it and there is nobody who deserved to reach that milestone more than Carly! That was definitely one of my ‘whys,’ for wanting to win the sectional championship! We needed another game!”
Saratoga Springs will send two of its seniors this offseason to the next level, in Wise and Parker Laurin (Hartwick), with five total set to graduate this June. Furze believes their guidance has touched more than just the younger generation behind them.
“Our five seniors were definitely leaders both on and off the field. They lead with integrity, teamwork, and determination,” Furze remarked. “They have been incredible role models for our youth players. They helped me along the way with the many things that go into running a program and developed a huge social media following. I am most definitely going to miss them but am excited to see what is in their futures!”
Furze took over the Blue Streaks team at the start of the 2023 season and one would be hard-pressed to find a more successful two-year start for a head coach at the helm of a large school program. In year one, it was about developing a bond and setting the culture. In year two, the Blue Streaks defended both.
It wasn’t easy, as Saratoga Springs had to play in five overtime games, finishing with a 3-2 record in such, and had eight games total decided by one goal. Yet after rebounding from 10-7 deficits versus each of Shenendehowa in the Sectional Semifinal and Colonie in the finals, they also defended the nickname. ‘The cardiac kids.’
“It is difficult to make it to the top and even more difficult to stay there. I am so proud of the grit that the girls showed each and every game. We had a good deal of very close, ‘edge of your seat,’ comeback games that kept the crowd engaged and excited,” Furze explained.
When it comes to year three for Furze, not much changes, other than a new chance to get back atop the Section 2 mountain. She hopes the endings of the last two seasons, will galvanize the next group of Blue Streaks for another journey ahead.
“I think that it is helpful to have the taste of victory in your rearview mirror. They understand the feeling of the win and they are hungry for it. I think that was part of the motivation this season as well,” Furze added. “When we begin conditioning in the off-season I would tell the girls that they now have a target on their backs so they need to push themselves even harder to be successful.”
