SCHUYLERVILLE– A pair of first-half goals set the tone for Burnt Hills as they took down Queensbury in the Class B field hockey championship on Monday at Schuylerville High School by a final score of 4-2, giving them their sixth straight sectional championship.
Caroline Muller got the scoring going for Burnt Hills as she scored 17 minutes into the game to give the eventual winners the first lead of the night. In the final seconds of the half, Burnt Hills scored with no time left on the clock on a penalty corner to suddenly make it 2-0 at the break.
“Offensively, our big motto was to not let (the ball) get past our 50 (yard line) and to put a lot of pressure on them and we pressed the whole game,” Burnt Hills head coach Kelly Vrooman said.
Burnt Hills got things going once again early on in the second half, as Sydney Plemenik scored on a penalty stroke six and a half minutes into the second frame and put them up 3-0, more or less putting the game in hand for the Spartans to complete the six-peat.
Queensbury got on the board just minutes later on a goal from Alyssa Fitzgerald, but it was too little too late as the Burnt Hills offense was flying, adding a fourth goal with 16:38 left courtesy of Courtney Kruzikas.
This is Burnt Hills’ sixth straight Section II, Class B championship and their fourth year in a row beating Queensbury in this same game.
“We look at every year differently. This year we had a group of girls that were very talented, and we take it one year at a time. I think it means for us that we have some tradition here,” Vrooman said.
“Winning these games, it feels so much like we’re a family and we work so hard for this and it’s not like we have one good player, we have a selection of good players,” senior captain Christina Pedone said.
Queensbury finishes the season at 12-6.
Burnt Hills moves onto the regional round where they will take on Camden of Section 3. That game will be played on Sunday, November 5 at Shenendehowa High School. Game time is set for 2 p.m.
