LOUDONVILLE — It had been 40 days since Queensbury dropped a decision to Bethlehem on its home field, and the Spartans boarded the bus Sunday to Siena University looking for payback and an eighth straight Section 2 championship.

Queensbury accomplished both goals.

Paced by three goals from Kady Duffy and two each from Addison Boecher and Sydney Yrsha, the Spartans broke a halftime tie with two early third-period goals and locked down on the defensive end behind the play of goalie Megan Winne to earn a 10-8 win over top-seeded Bethlehem on Sunday at Hickey Field in the Section 2 Class B final. 

“It’s huge. It never gets old winning a sectional championship,” Queensbury coach David Huth said. “It extends our season with our lacrosse family one more week. They wanted redemption; they talked about it coming out of the locker room this morning and getting on the bus. You could see it in their faces, they wanted it.”

 Duffy, a senior committed to play at North Carolina next year, was injured in the team’s 8-4 April loss to Bethlehem and missed nine games before returning in the Class B semifinals.

“It feels great to be back with these girls. These are some of my best friends,” Duffy said. “There were a lot of injuries on the team early in the season and we kept fighting back to get to this point, so now we have our eighth sectional championship in a row.”

 In addition to her three goals and one assist, Duffy controlled 16 of the 18 draws she participated in to give Queensbury (11-8) a key advantage in ball possession.

“That is the game of lacrosse. If you can win the draws, you are going to win the game. You give yourself more opportunities every single time,” Huth said. “She went out and proved why she is going to UNC.”

With the game tied 7-7 entering the third quarter, the Spartans struck quickly to take a lead on Yrsha’s goal 47 seconds into the quarter before Boecher made it a two-goal game 65 seconds later.

 “Honestly, it was just playing the game that we know how to play,” Boecher said. “Just taking a deep breath and knowing that we can do what we did. … We’ve been through an up-and-down season, but it (the loss to Bethlehem) motivated us to come out here and play the game we know how to play.”

 Senior Brianna Fabian led Bethlehem (11-7) with three goals while Hailey Bushart chipped in two.

Bethlehem took a 5-3 lead midway through the second quarter, but Queensbury rallied to knot the game at halftime.

After being held off the scoreboard in the third quarter, Bethlehem picked up the tempo early in the fourth and Bushart was able to pull the Eagles to within 9-8 with 8:39 left to play, but Queensbury’s Winne was at her best late in the game to preserve the lead until Duffy scored an insurance goal with 1:08 to play. 

“The possession and draws are key, and she (Duffy) is very good at that,” Bethlehem coach Dani Blanchard said. “We had a couple of caused turnovers and we came down and had some opportunities, but their goalie made some really big saves in the fourth quarter.”