Lake Placid’s Cecilia Norfolk, left, shields the ball away from Saranac Lake’s Tyler Burth during a game on Oct. 16 in Saranac Lake. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)

SARANAC LAKE — When the Lake Placid girls soccer team kicked off the season with a 1-4 record, things looked pretty bleak. But a lot has changed since then.

On Oct. 16, the now state-ranked Blue Bombers closed out the regular season by winning their 10th game of the season, topping rival Saranac Lake 3-2 on the new Wilson-Raymond field.

Sophomore Kendra Levitt continued her scoring spree by netting all three of Lake Placid’s goals, all of which came in the first 17 minutes of the opening half, giving her team a 3-0 lead.

However, the Red Storm rallied with back-to-back goals in the half from Maggie Reynolds and Tyler Burth. Despite having some chances to even the game, the team came up just shy of a comeback victory.

“Credit to Lake Placid, they did the old cliche, ‘bend but don’t break,’ and they were able to hold on,” Saranac Lake’s head coach Jason Wamsganz said.

Lake Placid’s Ella Moodey attempts a penalty kick during a game on Oct. 16 in Saranac Lake. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)

Blue Bombers head coach Heather Brewer said her team’s hot start was key to this victory.

“Then just being able to survive some of the counter when they got two back on us,” she said. “In the second half, though, we played well defensively, kept the same shape. It’s always a hard-fought game (with Saranac Lake). They’re a fast team, so we had to contain them.”

Levitt opened the scoring at less than four minutes into the contest, on an assist from Cecilia Norfolk. Around two minutes later, she connected on Ella Moodey’s pass to make the game 2-0.

A few minutes later, Levitt collected a pass from Audrey Albert before racing past the Saranac Lake defense to bury her team-leading 16th goal of the season.

Wamsganz said, following that goal, his team switched to a different formation and moved some players around.

“We started playing more compact defense in our end and closed those lanes down,” he said. “Lanye Locke did a nice job neutralizing Levitt, and Ellie Willett came to the ball really well from sweeper, taking good angles and getting the ball back to our mids and forwards.”

Saranac Lake erased the shutout when Reynolds took a pass from Kelsi Burth and rifled it over the head of Lake Placid’s goalie, Emma Clark, from far out. Then, Tyler Burth buried a pass from Sophie Baker to bring the score within one.

“I think Tyler Burth was difficult to defend in the middle,” Wamsganz said. “She broke them down multiple times, providing us opportunities. I was proud of her performance tonight. I thought we played well outside of the first 15 minutes and had some chances to score in the second half.”

The Red Storm finished with an 8-6 edge in shots and a few scoring opportunities in the final half, but ultimately couldn’t get one past Clark. She finished with four saves in net, while Saranac Lake’s goalie Emma Akey had three stops.

The Red Storm are now 3-9-2 with playoffs around the corner. They have the fourth seed in the Section VII, Class B playoffs, and will have to travel to Picketts Corners to take on the Saranac Central Spartans.

“We will stress to our girls that starting today, everyone is 0-0 heading into the playoffs and we are a good team,” Wamsganz said. “Our strong defense has to travel.”

Meanwhile, the Blue Bombers finished the regular season with a 10-5-1 record. It’s the first time they’ve reached double-digit wins since 2018.

“It’s exciting to get to 10 wins,” Brewer said. “We had to work really hard all season because a lot of the teams in Division II were close.”

The squad, which ranks 16th in the state, according to the latest New York State Sports Writers Association poll, has now won nine of its last 11 games. They’ve outscored their opponents 25-9 during the stretch, with eight of those goals coming in their last two games.

“Offensively, I think we’ve been in good shape with scoring,” Brewer said. “For a while, we were kind of trying to win, with a goal on a counter. But lately, they’ve been getting a few more.”

The Blue Bombers were seeded third among the eight teams competing in the Section VII, Class D playoffs; however, they’ve defeated the two teams ahead of them — Boquet Valley and Chazy — once before during the regular season.

“We’re looking forward to the playoffs,” Brewer said.

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BOYS

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Saranac Lake 2, Lake Placid 1

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LAKE PLACID — The Lake Placid boys soccer team suffered a 2-1 loss to the Saranac Lake Red Storm at home on Oct. 17.

Max Perez scored the lone goal for the Blue Bombers, which dropped to 7-6-1 overall to wrap up the regular season.

Saranac Lake brothers Mason and Liam Stoddard score for their team, while Ryan Bartholomew and Connor Gillis added assists. The Red Storm boys fell to 8-7-1 overall to end the season, following a 7-0 loss to Peru on Oct. 20.

Oren Preston recorded four saves for the Blue Bombers, while Saranac Lake’s Justin Lushia, who played for Lake Placid last season, had eight saves.

The Blue Bombers, which were awarded the No. 4 seed, were slated to kick off the Section VII, Class D playoff with a home game against the Seton Catholic Knights. Lake Placid swept the Knights during the regular season, winning 2-0 on Sept. 19, before defeating them 1-0 on Oct. 15.