Railroaders push on to title game
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STILLWATER -- One of the biggest events in Whitehall soccer history happened sometime around this date in 2001, when this year's players were still in grade school.
The Railroaders beat New Lebanon, 1-0, in a Class D semifinal game. It was a coming of age for the program. They knocked off a top-seeded team with a long history of success on the way to a state final four appearance.
Coach Ceil Brandi knows the history well.
"I brought that up to (the players),'' she said. "We've been talking about it all week.''
Whitehall played New Lebanon on Tuesday in the Section II Girls Soccer Tournament, and the Railroaders can only hope that history continues to repeat itself. Brittany St. Clair's overtime goal and Katie Paddock's shutout goaltending gave them a 1-0 upset of New Lebanon in a Class D semifinal at Stillwater High School.
The Railroaders move on to face top-seeded Northville in the championship game on Friday at Broadalbin-Perth at 4:30 p.m.
The Railroaders were well prepared for Tuesday's game, having played five overtime games this year. And they were prepared to win it with a single goal.
Brandi played it fairly conservatively, keeping players back on defense in layers to stop the New Lebanon attack. She also made a decision to focus on speedy forward Geneva Furiano.
Brandi took Aerial Ramey off the front line and had her shadow Furiano all over the field. Ramey was on Furiano's sleeve all day.
"I thought she was the best person to mark that girl one on one," Brandi said. "She had the speed to keep up with her; she had the endurance to keep up with her. ... Certainly, I thought it made a difference."
The teams went back and forth in regulation, taking turns with the occasional scoring opportunity. But mostly, the defenses prevailed.
Early in the first overtime, a turnover left a ball near the top of left side of the penalty area. St. Clair had some room to operate, dribbled briefly, then fired into the far side of the net for the team's only goal.
"We were preparing for a tight game," St. Clair said. "We knew it would be intense."
After the goal, St. Clair dropped back into a more defensive position. The Railroaders were content to slow it down. They had the only goal they needed.
"We've played like that before, in overtime, because we've had so many overtimes," Brandi said. "We didn't want to take any chances. We were going to try to run time off the clock ... clear the ball down to the other end."
The Railroaders were outshot 18-10, but New Lebanon had trouble finishing on its chances and goalie Paddock made 11 saves.
Whitehall has won seven games this season, and six of them have been one-goal wins.
Whitehall (7-5-4) 0 0 1 0 - 1Goals-Assists
New Lebanon 0 0 0 0 - 0
Whitehall - St. Clair 1-0.
Shots - New Lebanon, 18-10. Corner kicks - New Lebanon 5-3. Goalies-saves - Paddock (Wh) 11; Risko (NL) 6.
Posted in Sports, Soccer on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 12:20 am Updated: 12:28 am. | Tags: Girls Soccer, Whitehall, New Lebanon
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