Hoosac Valley Tops McCann Tech to Go to 2-0
CHESHIRE, Mass. – After making a rare but very costly mistake to let up a game-tying goal in the 64th minute on Thursday, Hoosac Valley keeper Craig Field did not panic.
“I wasn’t worried at all,” Field said. “I knew that we had that in us, that we could easily get that. We’ve got a strong offense.”
A minute and a half later, Hurricane forward Dylan Rohlfs scored on a counter, and the Hurricanes went on to a 2-1 win over McCann Tech and a 2-0 start to their season.
Evan Richardson scored the other Hoosac Valley goal, and Field made nine saves on emotional day for him and a lot of players on both sides.
“I played for McCann last year, so this game means a lot to me,” Field said. “The guys [at Hoosac Valley] have been really good to me, really accepting.
“It means a lot to win. We worked really hard to do that.”
The Hornets’ hard work produced the first good scoring chance of the game, a direct free kick from about 25 yards out that Field made a leaping save to deny.
At the other end, Ben Harris was a wall in net for McCann Tech, making back-to-back tough saves on corner kick tries in the 26th minute and five of his seven saves in the first half.
But Richardson finally broke through with about 12 minutes left in the half, taking a through ball from Rohlfs up the right wing, beating a defender at the top of the 18 and firing a shot inside the far post to make it 1-0.
That is where it stood at half-time, but the Hornets had a good chance to tie it in the 47th minute.
McCann Tech wing Zach Howland made a run up the right wing for what looked to be a dangerous chance, but Hoosac Valley back Johnathan Lyons tackled the ball to deny the opportunity and maintain the lead.
As the second half wore on, though, McCann continued to apply pressure, and it finally caught a break with 6 minutes, 38 seconds on the clock.
Field mishandled a pass back from a teammate, and Howland alertly jumped on the loose ball and scored into an open goal to make it 1-1.
“There were moments during the game where we kind of got down a bit, lost focus, lost some of our shape,” Hoosac Valley coach Blair Mahar said. “McCann kept bringing bodies forward. They’ve got nothing to lose at that point, they’re getting bodies forward. And we kind of began to get a little bit frantic in the middle.
“It was an unfortunate error. It can happen to anybody.”
The good news for Mahar is that the Hurricanes rallied back.
“Anybody can be happy and high when things are going great, but can you be energetic when things are bad?” he said. “And these boys turned it around. They got a quick goal to respond.”
It was the second time in two days that the Hurricanes had to overcome some adversity. In Tuesday’s season opener, Taconic had a 2-1 half-time lead before Hoosac Valley rallied for a 6-2 win.
This time, the hosts overcame McCann Tech’s momentum and advantage in possession for much of the second half when Rohlfs scored his fourth goal of the year with 5:03 on the clock.
When the final seconds ticked off the clock, the Hoosac Valley players got celebratory hugs from the football players practicing on the adjacent field and a couple to prepare for their next Bi-County West matchup on Monday, when they play their third straight home game, this time against Gateway.
“We had no idea how we were going to do against Taconic, they beat us pretty good twice last year,” Mahar said, referring to the Thunder’s 9-2 and 5-2 wins in 2024. “We set our goals like: Can we go undefeated in the league? Can we go undefeated in our whole schedule? So getting past the first games of the year was important.”
McCann Tech (0-1) will look for its first win of the year on Monday when Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School comes to North Adams.