Dils' Overtime Goal Lifts Mounties over Spartans
DALTON, Mass. -- Blair Dils thought his team lost its chance to score.With the Monument Mountain boys' soccer team playing rock solid on defense, the Mount Greylock head coach saw a header go
 Nathan Majumder Here are more photos |
Dils didn't have much time to sulk about his team's missed opportunity, however, as his son, Tom Dils, made him forget about that right post just 30 seconds later. The senior captain took the ball on the right side of the box, dribbled past a few defenders, sized up his shot and drilled the ball into the far corner of the net to give the top-seeded Mounties a 1-0 double-overtime win over the fourth-seeded Spartans in a game played at Wahconah Regional High School.
Greylock improved to 16-0-3 with the win and now advances to Saturday's Western Mass. final against third-seeded Belchertown. The Orioles punched their ticket for the championship by defeating second-seeded South Hadley 2-1 in overtime on Thursday. Saturday's sectional final will be played at 3:30 p.m. at Westfield State University.
"They were so tough defensively," Dils said of a Monument squad playing without two of its starters on Thursday. "They packed it in, and they were really solid in the back and in the center. I didn't think they were ever going to score, but it was just a matter if we were ever going to get one. I thought we missed our chance when we hit that post off the header. I thought we were going to PKs."
You can't blame Dils for having his concerns with the offense. The Mounties outshot the Spartans (11-4-3) 18-3 in regulation but couldn't break through against the Monument defense and junior goalie Aaron House, who certainly had a game to remember on Thursday night. House finished with eight clutch saves, including two on one play to keep the game going in the first overtime.
Junior Nathan Majumder slotted a pass to his left to eighth-grader Benni McComish, who fired a low shot inside the left post. House dove to his right to slap the ball away and then got up in time to jump in front of Alex White's rebound attempt.
"He made a couple of really good saves," Spartans head coach Matt Naventi said. "Overall, we've been so strong defensively this year that we've only had a couple of teams really challenge us. To not be tested very often throughout the year and then come into a game like this, where he is tested quite often and in a couple of really important situations. To come up as big as he has, shows the growth he's gone through."
Despite House's heroics, something seemed to be building for the Mounties in overtime. Dils' squad earned an 8-0 advantage in shots in the extra time and had another nice scoring attempt when freshman Eric Hirsch got an open look on the right side of the box. Hirsch's shot went right to House, but Greylock never left the Monument side of the field again. Senior Ryan Mahar used one of his long throw-ins to set up the shot that clanged off the right post, and the Spartans' defense, for the first time all game, was officially under pressure.
Before Monument had a chance to clear the ball, Dils, who played back for most of the game, took on a few defenders and beat House inside the near post for a goal he's sure to remember for quite some time.
"I just got it at the top of the 18, and I was able to beat a couple of guys and take it endline," Dils said. "I was thinking I was going to slide it across the box and have someone pass it in, but the goalie was kind of cheating, so I put it near post. He was cheating as if I was going to cross it, so I shot it past him."
After playing 96 minutes of scoreless soccer, was Dils and the rest of his teammates concerned they just weren't going to find a way to put the ball in the back of the net against the Spartans' defense?
"I knew we had a goal in us," he said. "I'm confident in our team in penalty kicks because we have [keeper] Sean [Houston], but obviously we wanted to score in regulation or overtime."
The Mounties nearly scored in the first minute of play when senior midfielder Luke Costley drilled a shot from 30 yards out that clanged off the middle of the crossbar. Their opportunities were few and far between after that, however, as Derek Graves, Jamie Waterman, Oliver Holliday and Connor Storti led a Monument backline that was always in position and in pursuit of the ball. Majumder, who spent most of the day up at striker, always seemed like he was dribbling right at two defenders and despite eight corner kicks and several other long throw-ins, Greylock couldn't really get anything going off of set pieces either.
"I can't complain about our effort because it was phenomenal," Naventi said. "We only gave up eight goals in 16 games in the regular season and only four of those came in the flow of play. Teams struggled to score against us, but a majority of the goals we did give up came to Greylock. The biggest thing was we needed to prepare for the set pieces. In our two losses to them this year, we didn't allow a goal in the flow of play. They had one off of a PK, a corner and long throw-in, but nothing in the flow of play. We keyed in on that today, and I couldn't imagine them playing as well as they did."
With leading scorer Nick Masiero out with an injury, the Spartans really couldn't get much going on the offensive end. They had a few nice shots off of direct kicks, but Houston was there each time to make the save. The junior keeper finished with two saves on his way to earning his 10th shutout of the season.
Monument wasn't the only team missing its leading scorer, however, as senior Jesse Foehl was forced to sit another game out with an ankle injury for the Mounties. That put the pressure on Majumder, who did his best to challenge the Spartans' defense whenever possible. The talented junior nearly ended the game with three minutes left in regulation, getting loose on the right wing thanks to pass from McComish. Majumder took one touch too many, however, allowing House to close in and make the sliding save.
With Foehl on the bench, scoring goals could be a work in progress for Greylock, which also used freshman Ian Brink in the striker position at times on Thursday.
"They were packed in, and we couldn't counter really on them," Coach Dils said when asked about his team's offensive execution. "It was really about playing feet to feet and then maybe we'll slip one through. When we had really good scoring opportunities, it was one touch back and forth and catching them off guard."
But as his son pointed out, it really wasn't about what the Mounties weren't doing on offense as much as it was about how well the Spartans were playing on defense.
"We had our chances," Tom Dils said. "Luke hit the crossbar in the first minute, and I had a header at the end of the first half. It just takes a little extra effort and having a nose for the goal in the box. Monument did a great job of clearing it out, and their goalie played the best I've even seen him play. I give a lot of credit to them for keeping us off the scoreboard for that long."