by Jen Burhans
The Berlin girls soccer team played a great game Saturday, October 25, defeating Hoosick Valley. The girls came into the Class C Sectional game as the CHVL’s league champions and were looking to start off their trip to the Sectional finals with a big win over H.V.
Jewel Pietrzak got a goal late in the first half to put BCS ahead of H.V., and the team came out of the break looking to settle in and get some more. Strong play from the midfielders controlled the game. Gabby Mazzeo dropped Berlin’s second goal in past H.V.’s keeper. Berlin’s fullbacks went to work and shut down any hope H.V. had of coming back. Maggie Gordon added a goal of her own to give Berlin a strong showing and a 3-1 win advancing them to the next round.
Quarterfinals
Berlin faced Oppenheim-Ephratah-St. Johnsville in the Quarterfinal game and traveled to the neutral site of Johnstown High School on Tuesday October 28. Berlin got off to a slow start but held off a few scoring drives from OESJ before they adjusted and started a few of their own drives. The midfielders got a few good give and go runs repeatedly down the sidelines, and it was looking like the game was about to turn Berlin’s way. Both teams were evenly matched, and both had home fields that were not as thickly grassed or as large in size as this one, but OESJ adjusted to conditions faster and put in a goal to get the lead. Late in the first half Berlin’s goalkeeper, Nicole Zlotnik, came out for a ball and got hit in the back and went down. She had to be subbed off, and Jordan Cahill came in to finish the half.
Cahill started the second half, and immediately OESJ challenged her and got a striker in past the defense for a one on one challenge. The shot was to the lower 90 of the net and went in, putting Berlin down by 2. Berlin had a big disadvantage with the starting keeper out as other players tried to fill Cahill’s normal sweeper spot in the defense. They seemed to go flat as play continued until Zlotnik re-entered the game. Back to normal Berlin started to come alive again. Gordon and Pietrzak got several opportunities to get some scoring runs going as OESJ was tiring, but Berlin was unable to convert anything they put into the goalbox into points. Their best chance for a score ended with a handball call. They ended the game losing to OESJ 0-2.