Bayliss' Hat Trick Lifts Mount Greylock at Wahconah
DALTON, Mass. – Everett Bayliss had a natural hat trick in the second half and assisted on a goal on Saturday to lead the Mount Greylock boys soccer team to a 5-0 win over Wahconah.
The Mounties got the going started on a set piece in the ninth minute of play.
A corner kick from the right wing found Reed Miles-Harris in the 18, and his header into the upper 90 went off the crossbar, off the mitts of Wahconah keeper Matt Oakes (eight saves) and into the goal.
It stayed 1-0, Mounties, until the 38th minute.
That is when Bayliss fired a hard shot from 35 yards out that went off the crossbar and straight down, where Jin Namkoong was able to finish to give the visitors a 2-0 half-time lead.
Midway through the second half, Mount Greylock’s offense caught fire.
“For the most part, I think we just passed the ball better in the second half,” Bayliss said. “I mean, it sounds way simpler, obviously, than it is. But our midfield moving the ball out well out to our wingers and connecting to our forwards, it was more of one unit than separate sections.”
The Mounties linked up perfectly on a counter to produce the game’s third goal.
The play started with a Wahconah direct free kick from just outside the 18 on the left wing. Mount Greylock’s defense forced the entry out of the 18, and Asher Barrale forced a turnover in the midfield, where Everett Crowe took possession and sent Bayliss up the middle with a through ball. Bayliss took a touch just outside the 18 and then finished with a left foot past a diving Oakes to make it 3-0.
Mount Greylock coach Chris Kapiloff said his players’ versatility allowed him to make some changes at half-time that led to the more productive offense.
“We came out with a different lineup for the second half,” Kapiloff said. “We thought that Kofi [Roberts] would be better served distributing the ball from the back, where Everett [Bayliss] normally is, and we thought Everett would be better using his body against their big defenders. So we moved Jin [Namkoong] into the center and pushed Everett Crowe out to the outside.
“One of the great privileges of coaching players who have had a lot of great coaching before they got to me is they know a lot of positions. We have five or six different looks that we can come out with, and today’s look worked really well for us in the second half.”
Bayliss converted an assist from Luca Mellow-Bartels moments later and closed the scoring with fewer than five minutes left with an unassisted goal.
By that point, Wahconah was significantly depleted due to fatigue and mounting injuries that caught up to coach Kyle Lyman’s team.
“Our legs were hurt today,” Lyman said of the team’s second game in two days. “ I could tell in the second half. The first half, we just didn’t play well. The second half, we had some tighter legs out there, and, at the end of the game, I had five guys on the bench and all five were injured, so I had no subs.
“That definitely hurts, especially when you play two days in a row. We’ll try to rest as much as we can [Sunday] and get back after it on Monday.”
Kapiloff agreed that Mount Greylock can expect a stern test in the return match against Wahconah, Oct. 6 in Williamstown.
“The final score [today] was not indicative of their quality or the game we’ll get from them next time,” Kapiloff said.
Mount Greylock (5-3) goes to Taconic on Monday.
Wahconah (5-3-2) hosts Easthampton on Monday.