Late Wahconah Goal Ties Lenox
DALTON, Mass. – Alex Jerebtsov scored with 15 seconds left on the clock Tuesday to give the Wahconah boys soccer team a 2-2 tie against Lenox.
The Millionaires had come back from a 1-0 deficit in the first half and took a one-goal lead midway through the second. But a red card assessed to a Lenox player with five minutes left gave Wahconah an advantage that it cashed in to stay unbeaten this fall.
“We were very lucky to get that last goal there,” Wahconah coach Kyle Lyman said. “We were pushing a lot of guys forward. We’re trying to do our best.
“I do think we had a lot of possession. … We moved the ball well. We’ve just got to go into that final third that I think we struggle with. It’s something we continue to work on, just creating opportunities out of our midfield.”
Wahconah got a golden opportunity in the 22nd minute of play, when Chaz Mahar sent a through ball to Cooper Calvert, who finished for his eighth goal in four games this season.
Lyman immediately implored his team not to let Lenox answer, telling them before the ensuing kickoff that the next two minutes would be critical.
One minute, 49 seconds later, the Millionaires’ Ahmet Yldiz scored on a play started by Elvis Chairez-Volakh’s corner kick from the right wing.
“It’s starting the game and then after we score, we tend to let down a little bit,” Lyman said. “It’s something that we have to work on and we have to get better at.
“We build a lead, and we just can’t give it away.”
In the 30th minute, Lenox had a great chance to take the lead, but Wahconah keeper Matt Oakes (five saves) made a diving save to keep it a 1-1 contest going into half-time.
Wahconah had multiple opportunities to retake the lead early in the second half.
Jerebtsov just missed the finishing touch on a cross inside the 18 from Calvert five minutes into the half. In the 51st minute, Leo Stringer hit a post. Four minutes later, Lenox keeper Jason Sibley (seven saves) made a diving save on Nate Beatty.
About four minutes after that, Lenox took the lead.
Hernandez had a try from the right wing that ricocheted off the post and across the 6-yard box. Fyodr Chairez-Volakh was there to play the rebound with a bicycle kick that just snuck past a scrambling Oakes.
“I think it was the adjustments that were important,” Lenox coach Jedd Hall said of his team’s comeback. “I told them [after falling behind], ‘Calm down, take a deep breath.’ I think possession, it really felt like 70 percent of it was our ball.
“But to [Wahconah’s] credit, they’re very good with the through balls. And I warned the boys, ‘They’re going to make a living on that.’ “
It looked in the final minutes like Wahconah was going to have to live with its first loss of the season.
But with less than a minute to play, Leo Stringer took a throw from the left-wing touchline and found Jerebtsov, who fired a shot from about 20 yards into the corner of the goal and passed a diving Sibley.
“We practice a lot of shooting, so I’m not surprised by the finish,” Lyman said. “Actually, that’s just a normal thing for [Jerebtsov]. We have guys that can shoot the ball. But it’s just us getting shots. We didn’t have a lot of shots tonight. So we have a lot of stuff to work on.”
Wahconah (2-0-2) is at Hopkins Academy on Monday.
Lenox (1-1-1) makes the short trip to play Taconic on Thursday.