Monson Edges Drury in Western Mass Final, Blue Devils Look to States

WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Monson girls soccer team Monday scored a goal midway through the first half and played enough defense the rest of the way to earn a 1-0 win over Drury in the Western Massachusetts Class C Championship Game.

 

Mackayla St. George finished for the Mustangs in the 22nd minute of play, and Monson outshot Drury by a margin of 9-5 by playing most of the second half in a defensive shell on West Side’s Clark Field.

 

Monson won a regional crown for the first time since its undefeated state championship season of 2023 and after back-to-back losses to Mount Greylock in the Class C final.

 

Drury was making its first appearance in a Western Mass final since at least the advent of the current postseason structure in 2021.

 

And the Blue Devils showed they can hang with the kind of team they are likely to face in the Division 5 State Tournament that gets under way later this week.

 

“We definitely competed,” Drury coach Jason Howland said. “It was a good game. It was back and forth. Definitely it gets us ready for the states.

 

“I think they were [ranked] five [in the most recent in-season state power rankings]. We were six. It’s one of those games. I think it could have gone either way. So, yeah, we’re looking forward to getting back on the field to play in the first state tournament game.”

 

Top-seeded generated the first good scoring opportunity of the game in the eighth minute with an on-target shot from deep on the left wing. But Drury keeper Addisyn Shepard, who has five shutouts under her belt this fall, leapt and extended herself to catch the ball just below the crossbar and keep the match scoreless.

 

After St. George made a mark on the scoreboard for the Mustangs, Drury’s top scorer, Ella Bond, had a good shot at the equalizer in the 32nd minute when she took a pass in the middle of the field about 35 yards from the goal with space and dribbled past a Monson defender to the top of the 18 before firing a shot that Mustang keeper Grace Berry was able to corral.

 

In the second half, Drury held a positional advantage most of the way but could not find a way to punch many shots past a Monson defense that kept three and sometimes four players in the back, determined not to squander its lead.

 

In the game’s final stages, Monson appeared to give up altogether on the idea of mounting a counter and was content just to boot the ball up the field or toward the sideline at any opportunity.

 

The tactic paid off. Drury got just two shots to Berry in the second half.

 

A late flurry of pressure by the Blue Devils yielded a couple of penalty kicks in the closing minutes but Monson was able to clear the ball out of danger.

 

“We preached it at half-time about trying to break through that fence and, actually, work on just turn and pop,” Howland said. “We just couldn’t get that shot.

 

“They did [pack it in defensively]. It was tough. We tried to distribute to the outside, tried to get the crosses coming in. We had some opportunities toward the end there. We just couldn’t get it in there.”

 

The good news for Drury (9-10-1) is that it will be in the field of 32 when the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association announces the tournament seeds on Thursday. And with just a one-goal loss to the highly-ranked Mustang, the Blue Devils may be able to hold onto a top-eight seed, which would mean hosting through the first two rounds of the tournament if it wins its opener.

 

Another piece of good news: This Drury squad graduates just one senior, meaning the Blue Devils might be back in the mix at the end of October again next year.

 

Howland is not thinking along those lines just yet.

 

“We’ve got a young team,” he said. “We’re gonna definitely come forward as far as the future. We definitely have a good foundation right now.

 

“But now it’s on to the next stage. Let’s see what we can do there. Let’s make some noise.”