NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – The McCann Tech boys soccer team Tuesday scored first and controlled the second half but could not find a way to break a 1-1 tie against Hoosac Valley.
Zach Gelinas scored to give the Hornets a lead in the fifth minute of the match, and Jesse Brazee stopped 11 shots as McCann Tech bounced back from a loss to Taconic and kept its record level at 2-2-1.
The Hurricanes likewise responded after taking their first loss of the season against the Thunder and moved to 4-1-1 this fall.
Although each side came out with a point in the Bi-County Division standings, it was McCann Tech that carried the play most of the afternoon.
As has been the case at times this fall for McCann Tech, finishing was an issue.
“We’ve been struggling all season,” McCann Tech coach Stephen McAllister said. “If you look back at all our games, we haven’t scored many. We’ve scored in every game, but we just have to get a few more on the board.”
The Hornets have scored seven goals in their five games; their wins came by scores of 1-0 and 2-1.
“We are definitely creating chances,” McAllister said. “More today than in most games. We’ve dominated our side of the field pretty much this whole season, except for against Taconic. They worked us pretty well. But we held in there and gave up a few unfortunate goals, and the kids got down on themselves a little bit.
“But, today, these kids played great.”
And they got off to a fast start.
With just more than 35 minutes left in the first half, the Hornets played a cross into the 18 from deep on the left wing. It ended up on the toe of Gelinas, who booted home his third goal of the season to make it 1-0.
Midway through the half, Hoosac Valley’s Ian Godfrey outran a defender and a charging Brazee to a through ball up the middle and knocked in the tying goal into an open net from the top of the 18.
The Hurricanes continued to apply pressure through the first half into the opening stages of the second, but a depleted Hoosac Valley squad had trouble maintaining its attack as the game progressed.
“We’ve got a small squad, and we’ve been dealing with some injury issues for a few days now,” Hurricanes coach Patrick Mahoney said. “So that disrupted our rhythm significantly. We’ve got guys playing places they’ve never been before just to have certain personnel out there, and it certainly showed today.
“McCann, to their credit, they pressed us. They’re physical and athletic, and they’ll do things to make you uncomfortable. And those kinds of things compound and make for a really difficult 80 minutes there.”
The Hornets, who in the first half hit a post, a crossbar, the top of the net and the side panel, started to put a higher percentage of their shots on frame in the second half. But Hoosac Valley keeper Wesley Emerson (six saves) did what he had to do to keep the match tied.
At the other end, Brazee held a McCann Tech opponent to one goal or fewer for the third time this season.
“Jesse was phenomenal,” McAllister said. “He played the way he knows how to play.
“I’m proud of these boys. This is the best we’ve played all season. We moved things around, we changed some people up, and it worked for us today. I moved one of my best players back, a defensive mid, and he lit up the field.
“We controlled the ball most of the game. We just have to finish.”
McCann Tech Thursday has a rematch against Ware, a 6-2 winner in a road game to open the season back on Sept. 6.
Hoosac Valley Wednesday hosts Renaissance.
