Sometimes, all you need is the wind to head in your direction.
Playing against an occasionally stiff breeze, Shaker was able to control possession but couldn't break through in the first 40 minutes. Once the fields switched and the home team was going downwind, it was game over. A Blue Bison onslaught turned the competitive game into a bit of a blowout in just a little while's time.
The first little while of the game featured Shaker getting into its own way a bit - you could tell they were better, and they were certainly having the better half of possession, but the Blue Bison were letting calls they didn't like get into their heads. Almost every call drew a vehement protest from a player, and Saratoga even played a couple balls into a dangerous area while the Shaker wall was slow to develop due to arguing the call. The complaining on both ends didn't stop, but once Shaker got to moving while protesting, those chances stopped. The first near-miss happened when Shaker's Connor Nolte played a ball in the 19th minute that ended up clanging off the top post and sailing over goal. Aaron Sterngass then put one on goal for Saratoga from nearly 30 yards out. Tyler Murray had to make a sprawling save on a Shaker header. With 6:50 left in the half, a Stephen Klimek laser from 20 yards out banged off the left post and bounced away. A lot of action and a lot of disdain in the half, with Shaker somewhat controlling play, but scoreless it remained.
Not for long. With Shaker going downwind, it didn't even take a full minute to make it count. Carter Haydock was able to speed through and put home a ball from Justin Brehm with 39:01 remaining to make it 1-0 in favor of Shaker. The Blue Streaks, now against the wind, weren't able to clear it as successfully as they once could. Shaker kept the pressure up a little more, apparently scoring a 2nd less than a minute later, but a (questionable) interference with GK call was made. The pressure continued though, and after a ball went bouncing outside the 18 with no one approaching it, Sean Larkin swooped in and took aim. You give him a shot straight away from the 18 with no one challenging, the conclusion is already made. Murray almost made a crazy save, but it went off his fingers into the net with 28:17 remaining, giving them a 2 goal edge. Another 11 minutes & change later, a Tommy Jelstrom corner went into a dangerous area... dangerous enough that it turned into an own goal. Kevin Lindsay was up challenging, and the ball caromed off the Saratoga defender in front of him, off a Blue Streak hand and into goal, making it 3-0 with 16:46 left. With the game in hand, the waning moments were.. in essence, pretty boring. Not a lot happened in the late stages. Shaker is still unbeaten, with one early-season draw being the only 'blemish'. They've won 10 straight since that - but their next game is against Niskayuna, the team they tied. With Shenendehowa on the schedule before the end of the season too, it'll be a challenging last week and a half.
Shaker controlled both halves numerically speaking. They outshot Saratoga 18-5 - 8-3 in the 1st, 10-2 in the 2nd. They had 6 corner kicks, one of them resulting in a goal. Saratoga had 4 good ones, but couldn't do anything with it. Maki Medici made 2 saves, both in the 1st half for Shaker. Tyler Murray made 4 for Saratoga and controlled it on non-saves 10 other times, while Medici only needed to do that 5 times. Lot of goal kicks for Saratoga compared to Shaker - the 11-4 margin combined with the other stuff shows that Shaker won for a reason. I'm sure we'll see them deep in sectionals!
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