Abrupt end to 17-0 season: SGF girls fall to Burnt Hills, 4-3 in sectional title

By Ben Westcott, Chronicle Staff Writer

Last year the South Glens Falls Bulldogs were giant slayers in the Section II Class B field hockey title game, preventing Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake from winning its 10th straight championship with a 2-1 overtime victory.

This year, in their quest to repeat, the Bulldogs came up just short in the title game rematch with the perennial power. They lost to BHBL 4-3 Sunday at Queensbury High School.

SGF entered the game 17-0, but was unable to continue their winning streak in the high scoring affair.

“I wasn’t expecting that high scoring of a game,” SGF Head Coach Mary Ponda said. “I wasn’t expecting a 4-3 game.”

She a said a couple of her defensive starters didn’t play “because of some decisions that they made last week” and “that definitely hurt us on our left side.”

Still, the coach noted that “the girls we had in there were just battling for every ball. And that’s what this team is. They never gave up. That’s what a Bulldog does.”

A major issue for SGF was that they were always coming from behind. The Bulldogs never led.

BHBL goalkeeper KK Fish made two saves in the game. SGF had five shots on goal, while BHBL had 26. SGF had nine penalty corners while BHBL had 13.

“We didn’t start as fast and strong as we normally do,” Coach Ponda said. “There might have been a little nerves in play there. We were playing catch-up, and it’s hard to do that against a well-coached and well-skilled Burnt Hills team.”

BHBL (17-1) struck first with a goal off a penalty corner near the end of the first quarter. But about a minute and a half later, SGF scored on a penalty corner of its own, when junior Lillian Willis found the back of the net off an assist from senior Mia Benincasa.

But BHBL gained a two-goal lead in the second quarter when sophomore Lily Mastrella scored twice in 58 seconds.

In the third quarter, the Bulldogs showed they still had fight in them when Benincasa scored to cut the BHBL lead to one. But a couple minutes later BHBL scored again. With their backs against the wall, SGF once again answered with no time left in the third quarter with a goal by Willis off a penalty corner.

That put the score at 4-3 BHBL going into the final frame, but the game was scoreless in the high-intensity fourth quarter and BHBL secured the title.

SGF senior goalkeeper Ava Reynolds, a Hartwick College commit for both field hockey and lacrosse, had an impressive game, making 22 saves.

“She saved our butt so many times and made some amazing saves,” Ponda said.

Reynolds often roamed far away from the goal to thwart a BHBL attack.

“I felt confident because I knew if I went out my team would recover back behind me, and they did,” she said.

“I think collectively we played really well, it’s just there’s not much we could do to change the outcome.”

The senior captain said after the game “We felt like we were going to be more dominant, but the weather definitely played a role, because we haven’t played in the rain all season.

I am devastated and kind of surprised [by the game’s outcome], but there’s not much we can really do to change it. We played well, but the ball just didn’t bounce our way a couple of times. But I have full confidence that [the Bulldogs] will run it back next year.”

Ponda said “Burnt Hills is well coached and has been practicing those penalty corners on turf all year. They have a wide variety and it’s tough to figure out where they’re going and tough to play defense on it.” Overall, she noted, “We were up and down. I don’t know if we were tired or what, but we did not play our best game.”

She said, “This is a great bunch of kids and I’m just sorry that this has to end now and we don’t get to spend the next two weeks together, because they’re truly a family. They’ve got each other’s backs and hang out outside of field hockey. This was a tough blow for them because we really expected to be back to states this year. So it’s disappointing.”

The championship game was played on turf, whereas SGF is used to practicing on a grass surface.

“We’re talking about a team that plays on grass all year,” Ponda said. “It’s hard to make that transition back and forth. I’ve said numerous times to the coaching staff, imagine if we practiced on turf every day. But we don’t.”

She said, “Hopefully that will change next year with some new turf coming in for South Glens Falls.”

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