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Saranac Lake’s girls finally end scoring drought in loss, tie

A tie and a close loss might not be memorable achievements for some teams, but players on the Saranac Lake’s girls squad had something to smile about after getting exactly that result in their last two games, which were on the road Friday and Saturday.

On Friday, the Red Storm traveled to face Moriah and headed home after being dealt a 2-1 setback by the Vikings. Fifteen or so hours later, Saranac Lake visited Willsboro and after 100 minutes of soccer, finished in a 1-1 deadlock with the Warriors.

The big takeaway from those two games is that the Red Storm finally found some offense after failing to score a single goal during the entire 2019 regular season and being blanked in all five games played this fall leading up to the Moriah match.

Junior Bethany Clark was the player who finally broke the frustrating run of goose eggs for Saranac Lake when she buried a shot less than 5 minutes into the contest to give her team a 1-0 edge over Moriah. Sydney Mariano assisted on the play.

The Vikings, however, had the final say as Regan Garrison scored midway through the first half to pull the hosts even, and Allie Huchro followed with the game-winner with 13:23 remaining in regulation.

Despite giving up a late goal, Saranac Lake head Jason Wamsganz said his players did not give up.

“The last 10 minutes of the game, we really pushed the ball on them,” he said. “We got some good chances, including a shot that wasn’t wide by very much.”

After scoring for the first time since the 2019 preseason but still coming up short, Saranac Lake salvaged a 1-1 tie Saturday at Willsboro in a match that extended through 80 minutes of regulation and 20 more minutes of sudden death overtime.

Junior Jenna Ford, who went over the 100-goal scoring plateau in her high school career a week ago, put Willsboro on top 1-0 when she tallied 13 minutes into the match. Senior captain Chloe Reardon answered for Saranac Lake later in the half, scoring off an assist by Amya Hurteau 8 minutes before the intermission.

The teams battled scoreless the rest of the way in a contest that saw Willsboro hold a 14-12 edge in shots.

Saranac Lake played the game without three starters who were taking a college entrance exam. Wamsganz said he was proud of his team’s effort competing in two tense matches in as many days.

“Coming off from that really emotional match Friday, it was such a huge turn around to go play again Saturday morning with a 15-hour turnover,” Wamsganz said. “The way the girls responded was amazing. They were exited, but they were also emotionally, physically and psychologically spent.”

Saranac Lake now enters a three-team postseason tournament in the Mountain League where it has competed in during the pandemic shortened season. The Red Storm is tentatively slated to travel to AuSable Valley on Wednesday with the winner moving on to face top-seed Saranac Central on Saturday.

Boys soccer

Lake Placid 4, AuSable Valley 1

The Lake Placid boys soccer team might not be on fire heading into its postseason tournament this week, but the Blue Bombers have been getting the job done on the scoreboard.

On Friday, Lake Placid pushed its unbeaten run to six with a 4-1 victory over AuSable Valley. In the past six starts, the Blue Bombers have won five and tied one to finish their regular season schedule with a 5-4-2 record.

Brady Trembley and Cooper Grady each scored twice to lift Lake Placid past the Patriots. Each team netted a goal in the first half and the Blue Bombers took control after intermission by scoring the final three goals of the match.

Trembley, a junior, gave Lake Placid a 1-0 edge when he scored his first varsity goal midway through the opening half. Korvin Dixon responded for the Patriots, tying the contest 1-1 on a tally with 12:36 left in the first half.

Trembley then buried what proved to be the game-winner less than 10 minutes into the second half, and Grady tacked on two more tallies with 19:14 and 7:13 remaining in the match.

All four Lake Placid goals were unassisted.

“We had a good game against AuSable,” Lake Placid coach Stuart Hemsley said. “The only thing was the game was closer than the 4-1 result. AuSable has some good players. They have been playing good soccer.”

The Patriots had a 19-12 edge in shots. Junior Jack Armstrong recorded 18 saves in goal for Lake Placid.

The Blue Bombers are the second seed entering the Mountain League tournament and will host Saranac Lake, the No. 3 seed, on Wednesday in a semifinal slated for 2 p.m. at the North Elba Show Grounds. Top-seed Saranac Central hosts AuSable Valley in Wednesday’s other semifinal contest.

The winners advance to Saturday’s championship match on the home pitch of the higher seed remaining, while the two semifinal losers will square off in a consolation game.

Saranac Central 2,

Saranac Lake 0

The Saranac Lake boys soccer team lost its regular season finale, falling 2-0 Friday at Saranac Central.

Zashon Abrams netted both Chiefs goals, scoring once in each half. Brandon Ashley recorded the shutout in nets with nine saves, while Nate McCarthy made 12 saves in nets for the Red Storm.

Saranac Lake travels to Lake Placid on Wednesday for a semifinal match in a four-team tournament with the opening kickoff at the North Elba Show Grounds slated for 2 p.m.

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