STILLWATER — Goalkeeper Haley Schultz stopped two of three penalty kicks to ensure a Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake girls’ soccer win over Jamesville-DeWitt , Tuesday in the Class A regional semifinal.
With the victory, the Spartans avenge last November’s 1-0 loss to the Red Rams in the Class A regionals, which came after a three year stretch of beating the Section III school.
Just one game into the season, Burnt Hills senior Morgan Burchhardt said, “We will probably meet up with [Jamesville] again, so we’ll see. I’d like to beat them again. It’s always great.”
Turns out she was right. Burchhardt did her part by finding the back of the net in the first round of penalty kicks, after the two teams finished regulation tied 2-2. Spartans midfielder Meghan Malone converted on the second.
Schultz, a sophomore, was put into the game for the penalty kick rounds when she made two saves before Jenna Retell clinched the game in the fourth round with a penalty kick conversion.
Jamesville-DeWitt held a 1-0 lead at halftime when Alexandra Catanzarite scored with eight minutes left in the first half. But the Spartans responded with goals from Burchhardt and Malone to go up 2-1 over the No. 9 ranked team in the state.
Catanzarite scored her second goal of the game after cashing in a rebound off the crossbar at the 19:22 mark.
The game went into two scoreless 10-minute overtimes before the two five-minute sudden victory periods and penalty kicks
Burnt Hills will now play for a spot in the state semifinals on Saturday afternoon against Peru, as they improve their record to 12-7-1.
