Hoosac Valley Boys Blank Drury

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – Despite having a roster with just 14 players, the Hoosac Valley boys soccer team Monday leaned into its depth to earn a 2-0 win over Drury in a holiday matinee.

 

The Hurricanes scored two second half goals and stopped two Drury penalty kicks in the last six minutes to earn a season sweep of their rivals, their seventh shutout win and an 8-2-1 record this fall.

 

Hoosac Valley overcame 18 saves from Drury keeper Colin Daly and the absence of one of the Hurricanes’ top offensive threats, Dylan Rohlfs, who had 11 goals through the team’s first 10 games.

 

“Dylan, obviously, is an excellent player who has some qualities that no one else has, and so when you’re missing that in the attacking third, you have to play differently,” Hoosac Valley coach Patrick Mahoney said. “We have guys who stepped up really well, like Ian [Godfrey], David [Scholz], and we’ve got some eighth-graders in there who are getting better every minute they’re out there.

 

“It’s kind of been, how can we fill in the gap that Dylan’s absence leaves? And we’re missing Blake [Mazzeo] today, who is an outstanding left back. … Whatever 11 we’re able to get out there right  when we’re dealing with this and getting healthy, how can we put guys in a position to succeed even if those positions aren’t really where they’re used to being.

 

“It’s kind of a team effort.”

 

Drury coach John Jacobbe also got a team effort from his Blue Devils, especially in the back, where, after giving up eight goals the first time around against the Hurricanes, Drury kept a clean sheet for 48 minutes on Monday.

 

“Colin is a very solid goalie, plays positionally sound, came out well, made some good saves,” Jacobbe said. “The defense, for the most part, played well.

 

“Our defense is solid. We just had the ball down in our end too much, and today that happened again.”

 

Hoosac Valley controlled play for much of the first half, but Daly turned aside eight first-half shots to keep his team in the game.

 

Things started to even out from the middle of the half until the break, with Drury getting some tries from Rommel Alvarez and Dom Duteau and Hoosac Valley getting a late shot on goal from Scholz that Daly punched out for a corner kick.

 

The second half started like the first with Hoosac Valley quickly establishing itself in the attacking end.

 

In the 46th minute, a free kick from wide on the left wing found Drew Norcross in the 18, but his on-target header was saved by Daley.

 

Moments later, Godfrey entered the ball into the 18 for Norcross, who took a touch before the ball deflected off a Drury defender and into the goal to make it 1-0.

 

Twenty minutes after the own goal, Hoosac Valley’s pressure resulted in another score.

 

This time, Scholz took an entry from Aiden Middlebrook, fought for possession against a Drury defender and then struck with his right toe to beat a diving Daly to give the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead.

 

“Really, I just knew that with the field here, it’s wet, and I just took a chance at it,” Scholz said. “I struck through the ball and just went back to the basics and thought I could shoot it.”

 

Drury played with urgency from there and had two golden opportunities to get on the board in the closing minutes.

 

First, a Hoosac Valley defender was whistled for tackling an attacking Myles Beauchamp from behind at the top of the 18 in the 74th minute.

 

Hoosac Valley’s Wes Emerson (six saves) stopped the ensuing penalty kick.

 

Less than two minutes later, Emerson was whistled for a foul on Duteau charging into the area. With the Hurricanes’ keeper subbing out to deal with a blood issue, Godfrey donned a yellow pinny, stepped into the goal mouth and made a leaping save to preserve the shutout.

 

“I was in net a couple of years ago against Taconic, when we won, 3-1, but I haven’t played goal in a long time,” Godfrey said. “So, that was something.”

 

And, as it turned out, Godfrey’s lone save of the day continued something of a theme for Drury (0-9-1), which has just two goals to show for its efforts this fall.

 

“We do feel snake bitten,” Jacobbe said. “We’ve got to bury a couple of goals, it’s that simple. That’s how you get the monkey off your back. Today, we were snake bitten again. Some of it is on us, and some of it is just that we’re trying to be too good with the ball near the net.”

 

Drury is off until Saturday when it goes to Springfield Commerce. Hoosac Valley is at Renaissance on Wednesday.