Minnechaug Shuts Out Pittsfield
PITTSFIELD, Mass. – It was a rough 80 minutes of soccer for the Pittsfield boys soccer team on Thursday at Kirvin Park.
It was a really tough three-minute stretch that did in the Generals.
Minnechaug’s Nathan Wesloski scored two goals in a 2 minute, 27 second span of the first half, and the Falcons went on to a 2-0 win.
John Mullen stopped eight shots for Pittsfield, which was outshot by a margin of 10-4.
Pittsfield never really put much pressure on the Falcons until the late stages of the contest on a day when its coach seemed to not recognize the squad he saw on the field.
“On certain plays, obviously, there needs to be more urgency, especially trying to win the ball back and people are just standing still, or we need runs forward and people are standing still,” Ryan Wanek said. “That’s unacceptable. The brand of soccer we had today is not even close to what we’ve coached for two months now.
“Trying to dribble through people, taking 10 touches, trying to turn on every single person – it’s never going to work, especially against this team where they press you high. They’re on your back, 24/7. You have to play those quick one, two touches through ball through. And we just didn’t do any of that today.”
After playing to a 1-1 draw against Pittsfield when the teams met in Wilbraham earlier this year, Chaug took the lead on Thursday when Wesloski played the rebound of a shot saved by Mullen in the 12th minute.
Moments later, Wesloski again put the ball in the net. This time, he headed in a cross by Nicholas Cianflone from the left wing to give his team a two-goal cushion.
The second goal put a little charge into Pittsfield, which generated a nice try by Renan Alves at the top of the 18 that started with an entry from the right wing by Thomas Gonzalez. But Alves’ shot went off the crossbar.
Moments later, a Pittsfield free kick from midfield nearly connected with Bashiru Sowe inside the 18, but Minnechaug keeper Chase Henderson (four saves) came off his line to punch the ball away at the last moment.
The Generals’ next serious threat did not come until the 64th minute, when Armano Coreas forced Hdnerson to make a diving save with a shot from the left-wing corner of the 18. With about 13:30 left to play, Coreas had a one-timer in traffic from the middle of the penalty area that went just wide of the post.
For the most part, though, Minnechaug was able to stymie Pittsfield’s attacks at midfield most of the day as the Generals were shutout for the first time in five games.
Their last four games have been losses, dropping Pittsfield’s record to 1-8-1 with six regular season dates left starting Monday at home against Amherst. Three of the Generals final opponents won the first time around against Pittsfield this fall.
Wanek agreed that at this point, every game is a must-win to keep the team’s post-season hopes alive. And the challenge is to make sure frustration does not become the focus.
“You’ve just got to keep their heads high any way possible,” he said. “If it’s just doing a little something fun to try to keep their spirits high – that’s really what we need. Once you start getting down and start getting on top of each other, the season’s gone. You’re not coming back from that.
“So as long as we can avoid that, hopefully we can still get some points with the remaining games we have coming up.”