McCann Boys Tie Westfield Voc
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More to the point, the Hornets are fit enough to tie some of the toughest teams in the Tri-County League.
For the second straight game, McCann played to a stalemate against a Western Massachusetts tournament team from a year ago. Last week, it was 1-1 against Springfield's High School of Commerce.
On Tuesday, it was a 0-0 result against Westfield Vocational.
Although the final score lacked the glitz of some of McCann's offensive outbursts this season, it had all the grit of a team that was not about to give any quarter on its home turf.
"I'm proud of the guys," McCann coach Tom Bona said. "It was a tough game. I wish we had them [on the schedule] again.
"They played against one of the best in our division. I'd like to think we're one of them, too. Then there's Ware. ... We've got to start beating these better teams.
"We're going to have to take it out on Ware ... I hope."
The Ware game, originally scheduled for Sept. 10, will have to wait for another day.
On Tuesday, the Hornets (5-0-2) faced a Westfield Voc team that went to the Western Mass Division 3 semi-finals a year ago and started the week 4-1-1.
Chris Gajda made eight saves -- including six in the first half -- and McCann kept Westfield Voc pinned in its end of the field most of the second half, but the Hornets could not convert on the handful of chances given up by the Tigers.
Perhaps the best chance for either team came with about 16 minutes left in the game.
McCann's Shane Fuller was fouled on the left wing about 18 yards from the goal line and five yards from the touch line. He sent the free kick into the area and ended up getting the ball back to make a crossing pass to Jon Leal, whose shot was deflected over the line for a McCann corner kick.
With about three minutes left, Leal had a breakaway chance on the on the left wing, but his shot went just wide of the goal.
At the other end, Gajda made a couple of big first-half saves to keep Westfield Voc off the board.
Midway through the half, Vitaly Melnik had a chance from deep on the right wing. A couple of minutes later, Segeiy Kabysh set up in the box and headed a cross from the left wing that Gajda caught.
Westfield Voc also had the first good chance of the second half, but Connor Little made a play on Dimitriy Stepanchuk after Stepanchuk ran on a through ball up the middle and looked to have an open shot in the box.
McCann had the better of the play from there, but the Tigers did a good job keeping Fuller, a 12-goal scorer this season, in check. Junior Vlad Lisyanyy did the bulk of the work following McCann's top scorer around the field.
"I remember them from the Western Mass tournament," Westfield Voc coach Kyle Dulude said of McCann. "I was able to watch them when the played Sabis, so I knew (Fuller) was a threat. You always have to respect that position.
"This was a grinding game today. Sometimes in these grinding games, one play makes a difference. We try limiting that one play against us and making sure players aren't turning. I think our guys did a good job covering the field."