Mount Greylock Rallies Late to Top Westfield

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires.com Sports
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The Mount Greylock boys soccer team laid the foundation for Tuesday’s last-minute comeback in the first minutes of the second half.
 
Eamon Hetherington scored in the 75th minute to tie Westfield, and Everett Bayliss scored in the 80th minute to give the Mounties a 2-1 win as Mount Greylock (4-3-3) improved to 3-0-1 in its last four outings.
 
When they needed it the most, the Mounties had a decided edge in the closing minutes, and that was no accident.
 
“They did play yesterday, which I don’t think helped them down the stretch,” Mount Greylock coach Blair Dils said of the Bombers. “That’s something we talked about at half-time, trying to make them work really hard for that first 20 minutes, so, if they did get fatigued, we might be able to take advantage.
 
“And it kind of worked out that way.”
 
After a first half in which the teams combined for just three shots on goal, Mount Greylock put the pressure on Westfield right off the bat in the second half.
 
In the 45th minute, Henrik Bingmann sent a centering pass from the left wing for George Munemo, who beat a Westfield defender to the ball in the final third and ripped a shot on frame that Bombers keeper Bryan Seymour (seven saves) was able to corral.
 
Less than a minute later, a charging Munemo got behind the defense on another centering pass – this time from the right wing – and got off a shot that went just wide of the goal.
 
Midway through the half, Liam O’Keefe had a dangerous try from about 25 yards out that was just off target, and 10 minutes later, Mount Greylock’s third corner kick of the match found the head of John Manuel Morales in the middle of the 18, but his shot just missed the target.
 
Just when it looked like the match was destined to go down as Mount Greylock’s first scoreless tie of the season, Westfield broke the seal in the 69th minute.
 
A cross into the 18 from the left side was finished by Ryder Finnie to give the Bombers a 1-0 lead with 11 minutes, 16 seconds left to play.
 
With 5:25 on the clock, Mount Greylock called timeout to regroup for its final push.
 
And less than a minute later, Caleb Low sent a ball from the right wing into the 18, where Hetherington was able to get just enough on it to push it past Seymour and level the score.
Buoyed by the late goal, the Mounties kept control of play and produced another opportunity with less than a minute remaining when Noah Klompus stole the ball at midfield and fed Bingmann, who took a couple of touches up the left wing before sending the ball into the middle.
 
A Westfield defender attempted to head the cross out of danger, but it went right to Bayliss. The eighth-grader settled the ball at the top of the 18 before firing a shot inside the far post to put Mount Greylock on top for good.
 
“He’s been scoring goals by the bunches at JV, and we were struggling to score goals,” Dils said. “So maybe four or five games ago, we decided to just bring him up here and get him some minutes.
 
“He does that kind of stuff in training regularly, so we were waiting for it to happen in the match. He picked a super nice time to score his first career goal. He won’t forget that.”
 
Mount Greylock heads to Great Barrington on Saturday for a rematch with Monument Mountain, a 1-0 winner when the teams met in Williamstown back on Sept. 15.
 
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