Hornets Hammer Putnam
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — High school sophomore Cheyenne Alcombright transferred this summer from Mount Greylock to McCann Tech because it was a better fit academically.
Turns out she is fitting right in with the Hornets' girls soccer team, too.
Alcombright scored three goals on Friday to lead McCann to a 7-1 win over Putnam in Tri-County League action.
After the Hornets (1-0-1) missed the mark on their first couple of shots, they scored three times in the span of three minutes to take control midway through the first half.
"Before, I wasn't in the right spot, but when I was in the right areas, that's when the goals started to come," Alcombright said.
They started coming in the 11th minute when Eileen Zajac set up Alcombright about 15 yards from the goal. Her shot deflected off the keeper's hands and into the net for McCann's first goal of the young season.
Moments later, Monique Martel took a shot from the top left of the 18-yard box and slid the ball inside the far post to make it 2-0. Just about two minutes passed before Alcombright cashed in the rebound of an Allie Gibeau shot to stretch the lead to 3-0.
"That's my whole new nucleus," McCann coach Mike Dowling said of young scorers like sophomores Martel and Alcombright and freshman Gibeau. "My back line is all set. I have new center mid, a new center striker, a new left wing ... the only person who came back from last year's offense is Eileen (Zajac).
"Cheyenne is a really good addition. She's helping out a lot. She's athletic. We need a scorer."
The Hornets had a chance to jell during an extended preseason that saw the team wait until Tuesday, Sept. 10, to open — a full week after most area teams got their seasons under way.
"I thought [it was helpful] until we were 0-0 against Renaissance," Dowling said with a laugh, referring to the Hornets' opener. "It helped us out a lot to get familiar with each other.
"Renaissance had a really good defense, so we didn't get to penetrate the 18. But today, you could see ... they passed and penetrated and created scoring opportunities."
Gibeau nearly scored her first varsity goal on a pretty crossing pass from sophomore Hannah Woods about 29 minutes into the game. But Brittney Spaulding made one of her seven saves to keep it a three goal margin ... for a few minutes anyway.
Junior C.J. Schliech scored from deep on the right wing with a shot that went in off Spaulding's hands to get the lead to four goals before half-time.
In the second half, McCann scored three more times: one more each by Alcombright and Schliech and once on a rocket from the top of the box by Alexia Andrews.
Finally, Putnam (0-3) got on the board with 2 minutes, 45 seconds left when Aliya Johnson converted a direct free kick from 30 yards out for her team's first goal of the season.
Although Dowling knows his team faces tougher tests in the league down the road, Friday's game was a good opportunity to gain confidence offensively and get work McCann's reserves.
"Everybody played a lot," he said. "At one point, I had every single sub in there, except for 'Woody' [goalkeeper Alexandria Wood]. Basically, our starting unit only played together for 20 minutes in their regular positions. Sometimes that's good, sometimes that's bad, but at least it makes them aware of the whole field."
McCann travels to Pittsfield today for a non-league game against St. Joseph.