Mechanicville and Greenville cruise to Class B boys soccer championship game
TROY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The Mechanicville and Greenville boys soccer teams proved Wednesday night they are the cream of the crop in Class B, and the two state-ranked foes will now square off Saturday with a section title on the line.
Both teams recorded shutouts in the semi-final round of the Class B playoff tournament at La Salle Institute. Greenville, the two-seed, knocked off three-seeded Catskill 4-0 in game one of the evening. Mechanicville, the reigning section champs, No. 1 overall seed and first-ranked team in the state for Class B, followed up with a 6-0 victory over fifth-seeded Hudson.
The Spartans struck for their first goal in the 19th minute. Off a corner kick from senior captain Joseph Davis, Catskill's Riley Street managed to clear the ball out of the box, but Greenville's Lucas Russell came roaring in and unleashed a strike from the 10-yard line that snuck just inside the left post, giving the Spartans a 1-0 advantage that they'd take into the halftime break.
Greenville's offense ignited in the second half for three more goals, including two point-blank scores from senior captain Harrison McAneny, and one from close range courtesy of Davis to finish off the scoring.
McAneny recalled what sparked the second-half scoring barrage.
"(We got) a nice halftime talk from our coach. He got us pumped up. Just finding our teammates - one-touch soccer. It gets so fluid. Our defense just clutching up and making great plays, my teammates finding me for two tap-ins - it couldn't have gone better. We got the Patroon championship. We're at the sectional final. Wherever it goes (from here), it goes. But we're working harder than every team out there. And we're pretty confident coming into the finals."
It took Mechanicville all of 17 seconds to get on the board in game two. Senior forward captain Tom Wendell scored off a through ball from Ethan Raucci. And that wouldn't be the last time we heard from Wendell.
In the 18th minute, he found the back of the net once more off a throw-in from Scott Lynch. Not even two minutes passed before Wendell got behind the Bluehawks defense again - this time drawing a foul that set up Lynch for a free kick, which the junior buried to extended the Red Raiders' advantage to three goals.
Lynch tacked on one more goal with 24 seconds to play in the opening half - scoring off an assist from Rece Dyer. Mechanicville took a comfortable four-goal edge into the halftime break, and proceeded to throw two more tallies up on the scoreboard in the second half.
Mechanicville (16-1-1) will take on Greenville (14-2-1) Saturday at Queensbury High School for the Class B championship. Opening kickoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Red Raiders won the regular season meeting 5-2 back on Sep. 6.