Saranac Lake’s players and coaches celebrate their championship Saturday in the Saranac Central preseason soccer tournament. (Photo provided)

PICKETTS CORNERS — Even though the start the Northern Soccer League schedule is still two days away for Saranac Lake’s boys, the Red Storm have already gotten the season off to a memorable start.

Over the weekend, Saranac Lake captured the championship in the Saranac Central soccer tournament with a pair of 1-0 victories.

The Red Storm edged Northern Adirondack in the semifinal round Friday when Nick Kelting scored the game’s only goal on a penalty kick in the first minute of sudden-death overtime.

Saranac Lake took the title Saturday, taking down the tournament host Chiefs when junior Bryson Mariano netted the lone goal of the contest, heading in a corner kick from Colter Cheney-Seymour 11:13 into the match.

Saranac Lake head coach Josh Marlow said his experienced defense played a big role in limiting their opponents to low shot counts, especially in the final when the Chiefs only generated two scoring chances.

All seniors, Kelting, Gabe Faubert, Camden Reiley and Patrick Wamsganz played along the back line to help goalkeeper Zach Churco kick off his final season with two shutout wins.

Marlow said defense has been the focus, and hopefully the offense will start coming around.

“You have to start with defense, and we’ve got four guys on our back line who are just tremendous,” Marlow said

“We did everything right on Friday against NAC but score,” he continued. “We had the ball the majority of the time, controlled the play, and missed some chances by inches. The next day, we outshot Saranac 9-2. That was really a midfield battle. I told my guys that was a big win for us. Saranac is a good team.”

Saranac Lake now opens its NSL Division I schedule on home turf at Schroeter’s Field Thursday against Northeastern Clinton starting at 4:30 p.m.

Marlow considers the Cougars to be one of the top or even the best team in the league this fall.

“It’s going to be a huge test for us,” Marlow said. “I think it’s going to be a barn burner.”

—

GIRLS SOCCER

Beekmantown 6, Saranac Lake 0

CHAZY — After rallying past one group of Eagles in the semifinal round of the Chazy preseason soccer tournament Thursday, Saranac Lake’s girls didn’t fare so well against another Eagles team in Friday’s championship match.

Coming off a hard-fought 4-3 semifinal win over host Chazy, the Red Storm had to settle for a second-place tournament finish after being blanked 6-0 by Beekmantown in the championship final.

Beekmantown scored three goals in each half on the way to the title. Avery Durgan and Kiera Regan netted two goals apiece, and Isabella Brown and Emma McCasland added single tallies in a match that saw Beekmantown overwhelm Saranac Lake with a 23-3 edge in shots.

Amya Hurteau and Mecalyn Sousa split time in goal for the Red Storm, recording four and 11 saves, respectively. Bailey Carter made three stops in net to earn the shutout win for Beekmantown.