Saranac Lake girls soccer tops Bombers, 4-0
Red Storm girls soccer team extends unbeaten streak to four games
- Saranac Lake’s Samra Cirikovic, left, controls the ball before scoring her second goal in Wednesday’s contest with Lake Placid’s Margaret Thatcher defending her. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)
- Saranac Lake’s Addison Dann races toward the loose ball during Wednesday’s home contest against Lake Placid. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)
- Lake Placid’s Anisa Cecunjanin, right, shields Saranac Lake’s Kelsi Burth during Wednesday’s contest in Saranac Lake. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)
- Saranac Lake’s Lizzie Harvey controls the ball with Lake Placid’s Fiona Webb trailing behind during Wednesday’s game at Schroeter’s Field. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

Saranac Lake’s Samra Cirikovic, left, controls the ball before scoring her second goal in Wednesday’s contest with Lake Placid’s Margaret Thatcher defending her. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)
SARANAC LAKE — The Saranac Lake girls soccer team scored a goal in the first few minutes of Wednesday’s game against Lake Placid, and the Red Storm were never really threatened the remainder of the way, claiming a 4-0 victory over the Blue Bombers.
Playing at Schroeter’s Field for the final time this season, Saranac Lake scored three goals before intermission and netted one in the second half to complete a season sweep over Lake Placid. The Red Storm topped the Blue Bombers 2-1 on Sept. 18.
The win marked Saranac Lake’s fourth-straight outing without a loss, improving their overall record to 4-5-3. Red Storm head coach Jason Wamsganz said he doesn’t want to think too much about the streak.
“You just want to make sure you’re playing well and taking care of business and kind of let things fall into place as they will. Sometimes you play really well and you’re on the back side of it and sometimes you play really well and you’re on the front side of it.”
Saranac Lake senior captain Samara Cirikovic led the charge with three goals and one assist. Cirikovic has scored six goals in the past five games, while also recording two assists.

Saranac Lake’s Addison Dann races toward the loose ball during Wednesday’s home contest against Lake Placid. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)
“I saw it last year in her at times,” Wamsganz said. “She just didn’t believe in herself. But this year, she’s totally committed and she controls the ball. She does a nice job.”
Cirikovic got the Red Storm going on a goal at four minutes, 31 seconds into the contest off a pass from senior Michaela Gillis. Ellie Willett, a sophomore, pushed Saranac Lake’s edge to 2-0 a little over 10 minutes later, with Cirikovic assisting on the play.
“We had a few players in particular that came ready to play tonight and that definitely showed,” Wamsganz said. “And our defense played another solid game.”
Cirikovic followed with her second goal of the half, after collecting a pass from senior Ayla Small and splitting Lake Placid’s defense with a little under eight minutes left in the first half.
The senior captain recorded her first career varsity hat trick after Small rifled the ball from midfield, which bounced over the head of the Blue Bombers’ freshman goalie Emma Clark. While Clark was able to swat it away, Cirikovic collected the rebound before scoring her team’s fourth goal with 10 minutes left in the game.

Lake Placid’s Anisa Cecunjanin, right, shields Saranac Lake’s Kelsi Burth during Wednesday’s contest in Saranac Lake. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)
While the Red Storm dominated possession, outshooting Lake Placid 15-6, the Blue Bombers had some scoring opportunities late in the game. Briar Beaney, a freshman, nearly put Lake Placid on the board when her shot forced Saranac Lake’s sophomore goalkeeper Emma Akey to make a leaping save.
The Blue Bombers’ junior captain Anisa Cecunjanin also had a solid chance to score, when her shot from the right-side corner hit off Akey’s hands, but the Red Storm sophomore keeper was able to pick up the loose rebound.
Akey finished the game with six stops in her first career varsity shutout. Clark recorded 14 saves in net for Lake Placid.
“(Akey) wasn’t tested that much early on but in the end she was,” Wamsganz said. “She did a nice job for us.”
Saranac Lake was slated to take on the Moriah Vikings on Thursday, before wrapping up the regular season on Tuesday at Northern Adirondack in Ellenburg against the Bobcats at 4 p.m.

Saranac Lake’s Lizzie Harvey controls the ball with Lake Placid’s Fiona Webb trailing behind during Wednesday’s game at Schroeter’s Field. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)
“I think if we play out game, we can play with anybody,” Wamsganz said. “Moriah has a ton of speed, especially the Kazlo girl. We put in a wrinkle the other day, and we’ll hopefully see if that works.”
The Blue Bomber girls, which dropped to 0-10-2, will close out the season with back-to-back home contests, starting today against the Seton Catholic Knights and on Tuesday against the Ticonderoga Sentinels. Both contests will kick off at 4 p.m.