PLATTSBURGH — When you face a team a number of times, you pick up on tendencies, strengths and weaknesses.
“So coming into this game, we were fairly nervous in the fact that we’ve played Saranac three times now,” NCCS head coach Nick Trombley said. “Then we won, lost and tied.
“I know Coach Hamel quite well in terms of how he plays, and we know that he always prepares his kids. So we knew it was going to be a battle.”
And it was. The Cougars got on the board quickly and kept that momentum on their way to a 2-0 victory in the Section VII Class B boys soccer championship game.
“I mean, we got the early goal, which is really nice, because we kind of, we got the early goal going into the wind, which I didn’t think was much of a factor,” Trombley said. “So to go into the half at 1-0, we were pretty pumped that we could kind of hold on to it in the second half.
“Then when Saranac obviously goes for a push, we can try to get the other goal and that. and that’s kind of how it panned out. That way. It doesn’t always pan out that way, but it panned out the way we were kind of thinking it was going to as well.”
After Evias Carpenter opened the scoring early in the contest, the Spartans pushed back with fury. The defense of the Cougars stood tall. In fact, the team has given up only nine goals all year. This was led by senior goalkeeper Maxx Rabideau.
“It was a great win for us,” Rabideau said. “I mean, we knew coming into this game that, you know, there’d be a tough competitor.
“They have been for the past two years, and we really stepped up. I was telling the boys before the game like, you know, it’s my final year, and I want to go out on a win. and that was a great way to show it tonight.”
Rabideau is one of four seniors that didn’t want the night to end poorly, and they all did their job. Rabideau especially was noticeable as he made tremendous stop after stop, including a kick save where he slid back in front of the net to kick the ball away.
“When I warm him up before the game, I say, ‘Max, I need you to make the routine saves,’ but every single game, he comes up with huge saves that gives his team incentive to keep moving on,” Trombley said. “If you let a couple of those in the tides turn so fast and soccer is a game of few goals. So for him, in that 10 minutes after we scored the first goal, I thought Saranac put a ton of pressure on us that could have easily turned the tide of the game.
“So Max has superseded what I expect of him. When I say, make the saves at a routine and he is an impenetrable wall, and you want it a lot. He’s a gamer. He is the definition of a gamer. When he is out there, it’s locked in, and he’ll be a big hole to fill next year.”
But, it’s not just Rabideau that Trombley will have to replace. He said he’ll cherish the moments he has with fellow seniors: Ashton Turner, Colton Castine and Edward Bulriss.
“Yeah, we do have a young team, but I can’t, I would be remiss not to talk about the other guys on the team that we’re losing,” Trombley said. “So we are losing our center back, who’s played center back for me for three years.
“We’re losing our goalie, who played phenomenal tonight. He has kept us in the majority of games this year. We played seven overtime games this year, and honestly, we lost zero of them, and it was an ode to him that he just is.
“He makes huge saves that he shouldn’t really make. We’re losing Turner. He’s our center, defensive mid and Castine, marked Mason Brown tonight. Those four guys? I’ve had them for quite some time, so I’m gonna be very sad to see them go.”
Turner had one more highlight for his team, scoring off a corner kick by teammate Tyller Bourgeois late in the game to seal the deal.
While the team celebrated, they know time for reminiscing isn’t here yet for the Cougars. They still have a game to play and things to work on.
“Yeah, my coach always says next five minutes after a goal,” Rabideau said. “So I think that’s when you work on our first goal.
“We got pounded for like 10 minutes. and I think just our mentality. That’s about it, that’s what our focus needs to be.”
Up next for NCCS is undefeated and Section II champion Mechanicville at 17-0-2. The game is scheduled for Wednesday at Bethlehem High School, set for a 4 p.m. kickoff.
Rabideau, Trombley and the rest of the Cougars boys team isn’t set to roll over. They have plans to make some noise.
“We’re gonna enjoy this at this point in time,” Trombley said. “And I know these guys don’t roll over easily.
“They’re pretty gritty, they’re pretty gritty and I think that they can at least represent NCCS well.”
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NCCS 2, Saranac 0
NCCS 1 1 – 2
SCS 0 0 – 0
First Half- 1. NCCS, Carpenter, 1:15.
Second Half- 2. NCCS, Turner (Bourgeois) 25:56
Shots- Saranac, 8-7
Saves- Rabideau, NCCS, 8. Lannon, SCS, 5