Wahconah Girls Come Back to Top Hoosac Valley

By Shannon BoyeriBerkshires.com Sports
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DALTON, Mass. -- The Wahconah girls soccer team came back from a 1-0 deficit late in the first half for a 3-1 victory over the Hoosac Valley Hurricanes on Tuesday.
 
Hoosac took an early lead 36 minutes into the game with a goal from Ellie Field; facing some huge defensive injuries to junior goalie Kaiylnne Frederick and defender Skylar Case, the 'Canes were able to hold Wahconah scoreless until the final three minutes of the half.
 
The Wahconah goal came after a 15-minute delay of game due to a third Hoosac Valley injury; Ashlee Meczwyor went down and was taken away in an ambulance with a suspected knee injury.
 
"My girls were a mess after the injury, they really were and that's tough," Hoosac coach Kathy Budaj said. "Then they came out at half and that's all they were talking about and I was just trying to tell them to get that out of their minds and then they [Wahconah], within five minutes of the game they put in those two and they were right after the injury."
 
Wahconah's Arden McKnight put in the equalizer with 3 minutes, 5 seconds remaining in the first half; she broke through Hoosac's defense and sent a shot at freshman goalie Kelsey Bulson, who got her hands on it, but could not keep it out of the net.
 
Bulson recorded 14 saves in net for Hoosac.
 
Wahconah came out in the second half and added another just three minutes in. It came from an Emmy Cote free kick that deflected off the goal post to the feet of Amelia Dougherty to put them up 2-1.
 
"We made some technical changes, we changed our setup, which seemed to worked, although I thought the other one was working too," Wahconah coach Pat West said. "They came out strong at us, they worked hard and when they got counters they were a dangerous team."
 
Hoosac saw a few breaks through the Wahconah defense but not enough to add the equalizer.
 
Wahconah put in it final goal with 16 seconds remaining after some confusion on the field.
 
Wahconah was setting up for a corner kick with a sub for them waiting at the line; the Hoosac coach called for the sub, but the ref waved it off and then Budaj argued the call and the ref waved the sub on, while the other ref called for the corner kick.
 
The confusion led to the goal to end the game 3-1.
 
Wahconah (8-3-1) hosts Mount Greylock Thursday evening at 7 p.m. Hoosac (2-7-1) hosts Monument Mountain at 4 p.m.
 
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