By Doug La Rocque
In the only home meet of the year, the Mountaineers ran away from Mechanicville and Greenwich with Nyck Styer, Ryan Gosse, Alex Flowers and Collin Douglas finishing 2, 3, 4 and 6 overall.[private] The victory moved Berlin to a perfect 5-0 record in league play. This past Saturday, the boys competed in Schenectady’s Grout Invitational, a 20 team affair and placed 2nd overall. Nyck Styer finished 2nd out of 137 runners. Coach Josh Santarcangelo also had high praise for a pair of freshman, Malachi Ritter and Jack Flowers, who each broke the 18 minute barrier. The Girls Cross Country squad lost their home meet but according to Coach Santarcangelo, continues to improve. At the Grout the girls had their best performance of the year, with Cayla Hungerford leading the way for the Lady Mountaineers in a time of 19:08. Gigi French also had her best race of the year, in a time of 20:29. Both teams compete this Saturday in the Maple Hill Invitational.
Two More CHVL Wins for Boys’ Soccer It never seems to matter how Berlin and New Lebanon’s teams are in respect to one another, it’s always close, as was proved by the second matchup of the two squads in a week. Once again the Mountaineers came out on top in the defensive struggle, with a pair of goals from Ryan Willis, each assisted by Tyler Keller.
Willis scored his first marker midway through the first half, scoring again at the 5:40 mark of the second. The Tigers were not ready to go away, and cut the Berlin lead back to one on a goal from Danny Young at the 3:40 mark. Both teams pressed in the final minutes but the keepers were up to the challenge, and Berlin came away with the win. Sam Mikit posted 18 saves for the Mountaineers, while New Lebanon’s Trey Orme has 15 saves for the Tigers. Berlin found itself having to come from behind earlier in the week against the Clippers of Germantown. Anthony Santon netted the game tying goal with Addison Colin putting Berlin ahead to stay a short time later. Ryan Willis assisted on the first two goals and then scored a pair himself as Berlin went on to post another Central Hudson Valley win. Sam Mikit had 6 saves in the Berlin net. Berlin remains tied with Loudonville Christian for first place in the CHVL with identical 6-1 league records. The title may come down to the matchup on Friday, October 14, at Berlin at 4 pm.
A Split This Past Week For The Girls Soccer Team Emma Willard remains the class of the CHVL, and rightfully so. The Troy based prep school is in Class A in girls soccer, far above the rest of the league which is made up of Class D schools.
The Lady Mountaineers hung with them in the first half of last week’s game at Berlin, trailing just 1-0 at the break. The Jesters took advantage of a couple of Berlin breakdowns and scored three more times in the second half to post the 4-0 win. Haley Maxon made 20 saves for Berlin in the contest. Earlier in the week, Berlin built a 3-0 lead on New Lebanon, only to see the Tigers come back to tie the score. Jewel Pietrzak put the Lady Mountaineers ahead to stay on what Coach Fleda Berschwinger said was an outstanding direct kick that curved its way into the net. Pietrzak had two earlier scores for Berlin, with striker Gabby Mazzeo netting the final goal of the game. The other Berlin tally came off the foot of midfielder Amanda Despart. Berlin has another matchup with Massachusetts rival Lee this week, before rounding out their league schedule against Heatly and Doane Stuart.[/private]