Decades in the Making: Blue Streaks Crowned Sectional Champions
The Saratoga Springs girls varsity soccer team celebrates its Section 2 Class AAA title victory at Niskayuna High School on Monday night. Photo via Saratoga Athletics.
NISKAYUNA — The Saratoga Springs girls varsity soccer team captured the Section 2 Class AAA championship on Monday night, defeating Shaker 1 to 0. It was the girls soccer program’s first sectional title in more than three decades. Senior Keegan Reinhart scored the lone, winning goal for the Blue Streaks.
The team advanced to the finals after beating Shenendehowa 1 to 0 last week in another shutout. Both the semifinals and finals games were played at Niskayuna High School.
Victory in the big game was far from a sure thing for the 12-4-2 Blue Streaks. The last time they played Shaker, on September 28, they lost 2 to 1.
The team was led throughout the season by stellar performances from Ava Goodman, who scored the winning goal against Shen in overtime last week, and goalie Olivia Goodman, who secured two back-to-back shutouts in the postseason.
The Blue Streaks got off to a hot start this season, winning 7 of their first 8 games before falling to Shaker in September. They quickly recovered from that loss, however, and tied Ballston Spa before winning 4 straight games. The momentum then slowed a bit as they were thwarted by Niskayuna and Broadalbin-Perth in close contests. But everything seemed to come together at the perfect time when they sealed the deal in the postseason.
The Saratoga soccer squad will next take on Section 3 champions Cicero-North Syracuse on Saturday, November 9 at 2 p.m. at Nottingham High School in Syracuse.