CLIFTON PARK -- The third loss was the most painful.
Saratoga Springs finally scored on Niskayuna on Friday night, but Morgan Powell's goal came after the Blue Streaks fell behind, 2-0, in the Class AA championship game of the Section II Field Hockey Tournament.
Powell scored with 24:38 remaining in the game off a pass from Celia D'Agostino. Neither team scored the rest of the way, and Niskayuna added a 2-1 victory to its previous 1-0 and 2-0 wins over Saratoga in the Suburban Council regular season.
"We needed to have our A-game in both halves, and we didn't," said Blue Streaks' head coach Jo-Anna Tostig. "They played two good halves, and we needed to play two good halves. They got settled down quicker than we did. They took advantage of the corners. You can only hold off so many corners."
Niskayuna (17-2) got both goals from junior midfielder Lindsay Mayo, and both came off penalty corners. The Silver Warriors held an 11-0 edge in corners in the first half and a 14-3 edge overall. Niskayuna outshot Saratoga (7-2) and Warriors' goalie Kristi Macri made one save, a diving slide.
Meredith Farley played well in goal for Saratoga, making seven saves.
Mayo's first goal came with 5:26 left in the half, directly off a penalty corner. Mayo put the Warriors in control of the game by scoring just 50 seconds into the second half. Farley deflected a shot by Niskayuna's Katie Farley, but Mayo was there to slap the ball into the cage.
"Once we got to 2-0, it was much better," said Niskayuna coach Alison Broomhead, whose team returns Shenendahowa at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday to take on the Section I champion. The Section I title game will be Sunday.
"We knew once we got a goal, we'd be able to get another and win the game," Broomhead said. "We work a lot on our corners."
Hostig was pleased with the way her team bounced back.
"I'm really proud of what the seniors did," she said. "They could have crawled under a rock, but we were able to get back and get a goal against them."
Powell, a junior, finished the season with 13 goals and three assists, and D'Agostino, a sophomore, ended up with eight goals and seven assists.
Saratoga (7-2) 0 1 - 1
Niskayuna (17-2) 1 1 - 2
Goals-Assists
Saratoga - Powell 1-0; D'Agostino 0-1.
Niskayuna - Mayo 2-0; K. Farley 0-1.
Shots - Niskayuna, 9-2. Penalty corners - Niskayuna, 14-3. Goalies-saves - M. Farley (S) 7; Macri (N) 1.
Posted in High-school-and-prep, Sports on Saturday, November 7, 2009 12:05 am Updated: 12:06 am.
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