Mounties, Burrow Blank Smith Vocational
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – With a week and a half to get ready for Sunday’s Western Massachusetts Class C Tournament opener, the Mount Greylock boys soccer team tuned up against the best opponent it could find: itself.
“We haven’t played in [11] days, and it is hard to maintain your level of fitness and maintain practicing with intensity during those times off.” Mount Greylock Chris Kapiloff said after Sunday’s 5-0 regional quarter-final win over Smith Vocational. “Last Thursday, we actually broke our team up into two teams and brought in referees. We had a full scrimmage Thursday night where we played ourselves to try to shake off that rust a little bit.”
And whatever rust remained to hurt the Mounties’ finishing touches in the first half on Sunday dissipated in a four-goal second half to make an emphatic statement heading into the semi-finals.
Lukas Burrow scored a pair of goals, and Everett Bayliss had a goal and two assists to lead the offense.
Ward Bianchi and Findlay Beguin split time in goal, combining for six saves as Mount Greylock posted its sixth shutout of the season.
Eighth-seeded Smith Voc made it interesting for the first 50 minutes.
Despite earning a 9-1 advantage in shots on goal in the first half, the Mounties went to the break ahead just 1-0.
That one goal came in the 20th minute, when Bayliss won a 50-50 ball at the top of the 18 on the left side, drove down to the end line and sent a cross to Burrow, who one-touched home the eventual game-winner.
Four minutes later, Mount Greylock nearly went ahead by a pair when Keaton Repetto received a cross from Zin Doucette that was tipped twice by the Vikings in the 18, and Repetto fired a bicycle kick that Smith Voc keeper Nicholas Mastroandi (11 saves) was able to corral.
At the other end, the Vikings had just one first-half shot on goal, but it was a tester from Josh Cole, whose try from deep on the right wing in the 28th minute forced Bianchi to make his toughest save of the night.
The Mounties finally broke through for their second goal with 28 minutes, 42 seconds left in the second half.
Ian Haig found Owen KoaMaya going toward the goal at the top of the 18, and KoaMaya finished for his second goal of the season to make it 2-0.
“It is always a relief to have a two-goal lead instead of a one-goal lead when you’re in a playoff scenario,” Kapiloff said. “And [the Vikings] have incredible athletes on their team … and an athlete can change the game. [Cole] has a nice shot. He can take it from a long ways out. And games can turn quickly.”
Instead, after KoaMaya’s goal gave Mount Greylock some breathing room and forced Smith Voc to abandon its strategy of playing five in the back, the floodgates opened.
Bayliss scored in the 54th minute with an assist from KoaMaya. Burrow completed his brace with an assist from Bayliss seven minutes later, and Kieran Johnson scored unassisted with 14 minutes, 53 seconds left to put a finishing touch on the blowout win.
Mount Greylock (9-3-4) takes a 10-game unbeaten streak into the Class C semi-finals, where it will play either Westfield Tech or McCann Tech, who meet in North Adams on Tuesday evening.