DALTON, Mass. -- A hat trick from Pittsfield's Jackson Rich led the Generals boys soccer team to a 6-2 victory over Wahconah on Tuesday evening.
Pittsfield (3-0) maintained tempo of the game throughout, but Wahconah put up a good fight.
In the first 40 minutes the home team held Pittsfield to only one goal; the Generals were having trouble getting shots off, although the ball remained in their offensive end throughout the period.
The goal came with 14 minutes to go from 10 yards outside the middle of the 18. Evan Dempsey hit the net off a pass from Rich.
"We were just holding on to the ball too much and playing a really individual game," Pittsfield coach Andrew Antil said. "At half-time, it was all about calming down, taking no more than two touches at a time and getting the pass off and once we started doing that that's when we started to have more success."
Pittsfield netted its first of five goals in the second half off of a penalty kick opportunity after Mike Holmes went down in the box; he knocked it off the left post and in to go ahead 2-0.
From there, Quinn Matthews found the back of the net with 23 minutes to go and made it 3-0; two minutes later Rich hit it again to lead 4-0.
Wahconah finally got on board with 19 minutes, 40 seconds to go in the half. The goal came off of a penalty kick after a Pittsfield foul inside the box.
Kyle Lyman took the shot making the score 4-1.
With 13 minutes remaining after Rich put in his second goal making it 5-1.
Lyman then carried the ball into the 6 and slotted it from the left wing past Pittsfield's goalie to cut the margin to three.
But Rich added his final goal with 4:37 on the clock, knocking it off the left post and in to secure a 6-2 victory and leave the Generals undefeated for the 2015 season thus far.
"Monday we have Hoosac and the day after we have Greylock, so we have a challenging week coming up ahead of us and we have a busy October," Pittsfield coach said. "We're 3-0 now and hopefully we can ride that winning streak for awhile."
