2004 League Standings

Suburban Council Blue	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Shaker	10	0	1	24	9	17.5
Shenendehowa	6	2	2	24	6	11.5
Saratoga	4	4	3	13	8	10
Colonie	4	6	1	16	17	8

Suburban Council Gold	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Bethlehem	10	0	1	32	5	17.5
Niskayuna	8	4	0	35	13	12
Guilderland	5	5	2	12	13	10.5
Columbia	3	8	0	13	26	6

Suburban Council Silver	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Burnt Hills	5	5	1	20	20	8
Ballston Spa	4	6	1	19	13	7
Mohonasen	1	9	0	20	42	1
Averill Park	0	11	0	1	57	0

8/31 Ballston Spa is ready to start it's campaign for a second straight Title today. The only difference this year is that they are looking to do it with the "big boys" in the Suburban Council rather then in the Foothills. They had a very intense preseason - certainly the most intense one that Coach Motsiff has put together in his three years at the helm. Going into the season the players confidence should be building as they tied Shen 2-2, beat South High by double digits, and beat colonie 4-2 in scrimmages. AS all know scrimmages are not a good indicator of the season but coach feels Ballston is ready to meet the challenege of the move to Suburban. Check out the Coaches Corner for what the boys have established as their team goals.

8/31 Ballston jumped out of the starting gate quickly this year with a 5-0 routing of Queensbury. The shot differnetial was 24-2. Captain Jared Iacolucci put the first goal in with a bomb from 30 yards out placed in the right hand upper 90. Mike Murphy scored the second goal when he one timed a shot from Jeremy Abdul-Haqq. Jermy was in on the third goal as he slid a through ball to Kevin Kelly in the box that Kevin slid under the keeper. In the Second half Kevin Kelly scored his second goal as he took a pass from Rob Fitzgerald and placed a beautiful ball in the near side net. Senior, Eugene Refino finished the scoring off a corner kick. He poked in a Mike Murphy shot that the keeper did not cathch cleanly. The Scotties open their Suburban campaign on Tuesday against Guilderland ( A team they beat 5-0 in a scrimmage last year).

9/7 Welcome to the Suburban Council. Ballston made a statement today that they fear no one...The Guilderland Dutchman thought it was going to be an easy 2 points. However it took 69 minutes to get on the scoreboard. One defensive lapse and that was the difference in this game. The goal came off of one of the outside backs getting beat and with a streaking forward (who WAS offsides when the ball was played - I was on the line) that was the game winner. Ballston had it's opportunities howevers when Mike Murphy hit the post at the 50th minute. What if??? We will not answer those questions - Everyone was in the right spot on that play and if Murph missed wide it was in the Goal as Jeremy Haqq had the goal framed. Overall the team played outstanding - the reserves that stepped on today proved they were ready and could play - especially Ryan Larson and Eugen Refino- Outstanding effort at midfield. Keep up the good work boys - Shen on Thursday...They barely got by Saratoga today 1-0. The door is open for us to do some damage - Make sure you are Sending your fitness data each day so we can track it. (Go to the fitness page) Eric Rosse made 6 saves in goal.

9/9 Ballston Spa proved they are ready to take on the best teams in the state today! It only took 4 minutes to get on the scoreboard when Jermy Abdul-Haqq converted a Rob Carr flick into a goal. They held a 1-0 lead going into 1/2 time. However, the scotties knew a team of this caliber was not going to just lay down. Playing without their starting keeper (who broke his jaw the game before), Shen replaced the one who was scored on...and he made sure Ballston was not to score again - not sure what MIke Campisi threatened him with! Any how it was Mike DeSimone who was able to get in behind the defense and make sure his team got on the board. This happened at about the 50th minute - for the next 50 minutes it was a physical battle with many opportunities coming at both ends. The best were by Ballston Spa as they continued to pound it down Shen's defense. Something must also be said about the defense of Rob Fitzgerald, Matt Wink, Jared Iacolucci and Brandon Gemerek. Thye were outstanding forcing Shen to take a number of shots that Keeper Eric Rosse was easily able to handle. Rosse had 9 saves in the contest. Next game... Averil Park on Saturday at 5:30pm on our football field...Time to pad our stats boys!

9/11 Yikes Dawg! Who are you? That is what many teams in the Suburban Council will be asking Ballston Spa after the game. After beating Averill Park 8-0, I am sure they are saying exactly that. It seemed as though the backs were tired of not getting any press. Well, Brandon Gemerek found the net twice and Matt WInk scored his first goal in two years... Also scoring were two sophmores, Rob Carr and Dave Gardiner. Rounding out the scoring for B.S. were Kevin Kelly while Jeremy Abdul-Haqq came up one short of a hat trick. Eric Rosse collected his 2nd shutout of the 2004 campaign.

9/14 2 goals in 35 minutes usually gives you the win. However, not if you wait till the second half to play! Too little, too late sums up this game. After going down 3-0 (and even giving up a goal 14 seconds into the half) the scotties owned the last 35 minutes of the game against Niskayuna. They outshot them, outscored them, and just plain outhustled. It was a huge effort to get back into this game and Ballston was not afraid - As coach said, if you were going to be down - 2-0 is the score to be done because a team really let's it's guard down. The Ballston Spa scoring started with a Jared Iacolucci goal after the 55th in. The assist came from Jeremy Haqq. The second goal was scored by David Gardener!

9/21 In a battle for the top of the White division, Burnt Hills came out on top with a goal in the last 5 minutes. Dave Gardiner struck first 7 minutes in as Jeremy Haqq hit a beautiful throiugh ball from the midstripe. Dave collected it and confidently slid it past the keeper. However 2 minutes later Burnt Hills got the equalizer. With much of the play at midfield for the rest of the game. Burnt Hills then redirected a cross to the opposite side of the goal where an unmarked man ran it into the goal.

9/23 Hoping to break out of their slump and post a win at home....Balllston had a lot of trouble finishing. Columbia packed it into the middle and often times only had one attacker. This worked as it stymed our attack and then with 1:40 left in regulation off a trick throw-in a ball was perfectly served, received and shot to give Columbia the win. Next week we face Shaker, the top seed among the big schools and still undefeated at 5-0. We also play Mohanason, a must win game if Ballston expects to win their division.

9/29/04 Our first chance at knocking off an undefeated team was just short... After a few scoring opportunities right ast the begining of the game - especially when Ryan Larson hit a chip ball to the back post and Jeremy Abdul-Haqq put it just over the top. These shots did not go in and with 1:40 left in the half, Shaker got a goal and after a hard fought match, Ballston eded up on the short end by one goal for the fourth straight time. Shaker was ranked 14th in the state. Nat a bad result gentleman.

10/1/02 The drought is over and the monkey is off our back...barely! Jeremy Abdul-Haqq led the charge. He scored a great goal off of an assist from Gibran Khalil early in the first half. He then scoredd unassisted in the second half. The scariest score in soccer (2-0) proved it's point today. Mohonason answered the call and with 10 minutes to go in the game was able to score its second goal pushing the game to "golden goal" overtime. With the game on the line it was Dave Gardiner who got credit for a Kyle Neuhaus goal. With 4 minutes to go in the second overtime a dangerous ball was hit into the 6 yard box. As it started to go out of bounds, Kyle framed the goal perfectly and hit the ball to the middle of the field where it hit a back and went in. With David standing right there he was credited because he was the closest to the play.

10/5/04 Ballston 2-6-1 @ Bethlehem 9-0. Should be easy to decide who might win this one...However at the end of the first half, Ballston had 4 corner kicks and 8 real good opportunities on goal, not to mention that they won EVERY 50/50 ball! They defintely came to play today. Unfortunately less than 3 minutes into the second 1/2 Bethlehem put together one strong push with a great shot...As it has been all season, Eric Rosse made an amazing save and pushed the ball just wide or the goal. However it went right to a Bethlhem player wh chipped it to the six where another player headed it into the opposite side of the goal. After another 35minutes of pressing and working hard, Ballston had no result for their efforts. They should be proud though because they have strung together 3 excellent games.

10/7/04 A rematch of last years sectional game! Colonie @ Ballston Spa. Only this time Ballston returned the favor. In a major change to the line-up, Rob Fitzgerald started as a forward. This proved quite successful as within the first 10 minutes of the game, Ryan Larson got a ball and passed it down the left sideline to Rob. Rob did a little stepover as the ball was coming and ran right past the defender. On his next touch, Rob served a perfect left footed ball to the middle of the field where Sophmore sensation Dave Gardiner burried it into the upper 90! That goal seemed to hold up as Ballston won the match! phew!

Coaches Note: It is beyond time to give credit where credit is due! The defense has been stellar this year. Matt Wink, Miles Williamson, Branden Gemerek, Jared Iacolucci, Rob Fitzgerald and Eric Rosse have been phenomenal. They do not get the press that the offense gets but they come to play game in game out! They have earned 3 shutouts this season. Although they are not getting the shutouts that they had last year they have kept us in every game of the season. All of our 6 losses have been by a single goal. It seems everything is clicking now going into the final week of the season and we have won 3 of our last 4. They only loss coming to Bethlehem which is ranked 4 in the state. This final week is what will make us or break us...The goal was to win our division and we are in position to do that with three wins this week! Let's go Scotties!

10/10/04 Although Ballston Spa held a 9-1 shot advantage in the first half, Saratoga made theirs count. Eric Hotaling took a direct kick from midfield into the wind and put it through the outstretched arms of Eric Rosse. The half ended with Saratoga up 1-0. Then Ballston put together some combination plays that picked the Saratoga defense apart and finally proved that Warren Gross is just a little human. Jeremy Haqq scored just 3 minutes into the half off a Rob Fitzgerald assist. Five minutes later Fitzgerald scored a goal of his own off an assist from Dave Gardiner. For the next 20 minutes however, Saratoga was able to put pressure on the Ballston defense. They collected 8 shots and 4 corners but could not get it in the net. With 5 minutes to go Jeremy Haqq scored his second goal of the day by lofting it up over Gross. The assist came from Eric Swahlan.