Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019: Defender's first goal carries Niskayuna girls

   Leading off today: Niskayuna defender Lexie Thompson picked a most opportune time to score her first goal of the soccer season.

   The junior headed home a corner kick from Ally Ross with 3:38 left in the first overtime, and the goal stood up Wednesday for a 1-0 victory over Shenendehowa in the Section 2 Class AA semifinals.

   "She is tall and really good at headers, so I was aiming at her," Ross said. "I was trying to get it to Lexie."

   The second-seeded Silver Warriors (15-2-1) will next face top-seeded Bethlehem (17-1), a 2018 state finalist, Saturday in the championship game.

   Boys soccer: Sixth-seeded Schuylerville pulled off a surprise in the Section 2 Class B semifinals by blanking No. 2 seed Mechanicville 2-0 on goals from Liam Armstrong and Zach Saddlemire.

   The Black Horses (12-7) took the lead about five minutes in on a deflected shot from Armstrong that found the side net and fought off a few near misses from the Red Raiders offense. Mechanicville hit the cross bar twice and misfired on a penalty kick try that went high and could have tied the score at a goal apiece early in the second half.

   Saddlemire's insurance goal came in the last 10 minutes, and Brady Eugair made eight saves for his eighth shutout.

   Boys volleyball: Canisius earned its 20th consecutive Monsignor Martin Association championship with a 25-18, 25-23, 23-25, 25-19 win over St. Francis.

   "Credit St. Francis, they made it really hard tonight," Canisius senior Eric Geisler ."Every time we'd get a lead, they'd battle back. But I love my team, we persevered and it feels really good to win this again."

   Football: Amherst senior Anthony McCarley (17 carries, 251 yards) scored on runs of 31, 44, 35, 11 and 40 yards and caught a 30-yard TD pass from Nick Tiberi in the Tigers' 56-38 win vs. Buffalo Hutch-Tech in a Section 6 Federation matchup game.

   Cracking down: An entire student section was kicked out of a high school football game in Pennsylvania last weekend for repeatedly shouting taunts and obscenities.

   Students from Gateway High School, the visiting team, wore surgical masks and hospital outfits and shouted "Diseaseport" at their rivals from McKeesport High. McKeesport Superintendent Mark Holtzman said Gateway cheerleaders were also wearing the masks.

   Holtzman said more than 100 students were yelling profanities, and he asked them to stop. When the chanting continued, he asked police to keep an eye on the section.

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   "Unfortunately, last night their student section came with limited supervision, and they were quite belligerent even coming into the game," Holtzman said. "I didn't want the issue to become a big issue that I couldn't control."

   Gateway officials vowed to address the behavior ahead of future games, though AD Chuck Reilly said the incident was not as bad as described.

   "I can unequivocally say it was not the whole section, because I would have heard it," Reilly said.

   Alumni news: James Bouknight's career at UConn is off to a bit of a rough start. The NYSSWA 2017 Class B basketball player of the year as a junior for LaSalle Academy, faces charges from an incident that took place Sept. 27, one day before the Huskies began practice.

   Bouknight, 19, was charged by Storrs campus police with evading responsibility for an automobile accident, interfering with a police officer, traveling too fast for conditions and operation of a motor vehicle without a license. His court date was scheduled for this week, but Bouknight has applied for a probation program that could leave him without a criminal record.

   The car's owner initially told police her vehicle's keys were taken without permission during a party but amended her statement two weeks later to say she had been drunk and does not remember giving Bouknight permission to drive the car but does not want to pursue theft charges.