Durant's Late Goal Clinches Tri-County for McCann
TURNERS FALLS, Mass. -- After dropping a 2-1 decision to Saint Mary's last week, the McCann Tech girls' soccer team needed to win out to earn a share of the Tri-County League title.The Hornets did just that, getting a late goal from junior Alexa Durant to earn a 1-0 road win over Franklin Tech on Tuesday. Mike Dowling's club finished the season in commanding fashion, winning its final three games and five out of its past six contests to share the league title with the Saints. McCann finished the regular season with an overall record of 12-5-1, 12-1-1 in league play.
The Eagles made the Hornets sweat out Tuesday's game by paying a lot of attention to leading scorer Mary Nguyen. The junior forward saw multiple players in and around her, forcing Dowling to send her out wide. Once he did that, it freed up space for junior Alex Lincoln to cross the ball into the middle to Durant, who scored off of a left-footed shot into the corner of the goal.
McCann outshot Franklin 16-10 in the game and held an 8-2 edge in corner kicks. Senior goalie Becky Daniels made six saves on her way to earning her seventh shutout of the season. The Eagles received 15 stops from their keeper, Nikki Vatalaro.
The Hornets will now wait and see who they will play in the postseason. They have already qualified for the Division 3 Western Mass. tournament and could be eligible to play in the state vocational tournament as well.