Third Time's the Charm for HV Against Drury
ADAMS, Mass. -- All season long, the undermanned Hoosac Valley girls' soccer team has been looking for a little extra help. Alyssa Bush and Alyssa Marceau Here are more photos |
Playing with one or two subs at various points throughout season has made the Hurricanes a cohesive unit but also has had them sucking wind against some of the more deeper teams they've faced this year. So when head coach Blair Mahar pulled up five players from Hoosac's JV team for Sunday's game against rival Drury, it's unlikely he had to hear any grumblings about the starters missing out on playing time.
One of those JV call-ups played major role in helping the Hurricanes break through against a Blue Devils squad that had already beaten them twice this year. Sophomore Alex Rousseau made the most of her first game on varsity this year, knocking in a rebound off of a shot from teammate Danielle Beauchemin in the 64th minute to break up a 2-2 tie. Rousseau's goal ended up being the game winner for No. 7 Hoosac, which waited for the right time, the first round of the Division 2 Western Mass. Tournament, to finally knock off No. 10 Drury 3-2 in game held at Renfrew Field.
"Alex is one of the players we pulled up from JV," Mahar said. "We've looked at her since double sessions. She didn't make the varsity squad, but we kept our eye on her all year. We pulled her up for the postseason, and she ends up scoring the game-winning goal.
"We had 17 players today, and I think it really paid off. Being able to sub in and give the girls a break for a couple of minutes. We had the energy, we had the legs today, and the girls just played a great game."
The extra legs gave the Hurricanes (9-4-4) a little extra push, something it didn't have in two regular-season losses to the Blue Devils (7-6-3) earlier in the year. Hoosac wasn't lacking for motivation, however, especially since Drury's last win against them, a 2-1 decision nine days ago, robbed the 'Canes of the South Division title. The South title was instead won by the Blue Devils, who also clinched a playoff spot with the win.
"We had to win," Hoosac senior Elizabeth Provost said after the game. "We knew after the last game that we'd probably see them again. We were hoping we would, so that we could win."
Besides some new players, Mahar also brought in a new strategy to Sunday's game. In an effort to slow down the talented duo of Mariah Ferrara and Cori Ghidotti, two players that combined to score all five goals in Drury's two wins over Hoosac this year, Mahar called upon the services of Beauchemin and sophomore Courtney Hayer to man mark each player.
"We had Courtney, who is our sweeper usually, marking Ferrara the whole game," Mahar said. "Danielle was looking at Ghidotti the whole game basically. We tried to shut those two players down."
The strategy seemed to work for the Hurricanes, who held the Blue Devils to just four shots in the first half. The game remained scoreless almost until halftime, when Beauchemin took a square pass from Provost and got loose down the middle of the field. Drury sweeper Danielle Racette came up to slide tackle her, but Beauchemin avoided the hit and slid a shot past Devils goalie Ali Tatro (seven saves) into the left-corner of the net.
Drury head coach Molly Meczywor adjusted at halftime, bringing forward Chelsea DeGroff back into the midfield to try and create more space up top for Ferrara and Ghidotti to go to work. Whatever she did or said at haltime seemed to work to motivate her team, though, as the Blue Devils scored less than two minutes into the second half.
Ghidotti came up with a nice corner kick that found the head of DeGroff, who flicked a shot backward that rainbowed over the head of Hoosac keeper Megan Richardson (three saves). Overall, the Drury offense came up with eight shots in the second half, doubling the output it came up with in the first 40 minutes of play.
"Chelsea just has great field vision in general," Meczywor said. "She's just got that great sense of getting the ball to the corner flags, so that was our hope [in the second half]. We knew this week in practice that they were probably going to do something with Courtney Hayer, either move her up to forward or have her mark Mariah. Obviously, Mariah has been unstoppable in the past couple of games, but you know Courtney Hayer is a great soccer player and she was effective today."
In what turned out to be a great back-and-forth soccer game, the meat and potatoes of the contest came in a four-minute span midway through the second half when three goals were scored. Tatro came up with a couple of big saves to stop an incoming run by Beauchemin and a header by Provost, but the Blue Devils committed a foul outside of the box before the ball was cleared out of their end. Freshman Cali Romaniak came on to take the free kick and lined a ball toward the left post. Tatro came out of the box to get her hands on it, but the ball scooted behind her, allowing Provost to knock it into the open net.
"[Cali] kicked it and it rebounded, and I was just there backpost in the right position," Provost said. "I don't know if [Tatro] touched it. Someone hit in the box, but I don't really don't remember."
"They were just scrappier," Meczywor said. "It wasn't anything they worked up and earned. I thought Ali had possession, but that's the crazy part about that rule. One ref can think she has possession and the other one can say no. It is what it is."
Although she had Hayer in her back pocket most of the day, Ferrara still made an impact by setting up the game-tying goal in the 63rd minute. She sent a ball from the left side to the back post that found sophomore forward Allison Meehan. Normally a backup goalie, Meehan showed her versatility by hustllng to the ball and headed it inside the right post for the first varsity goal of her career.
Hoosac didn't let a Drury rally simmer, however, taking the lead right back 46 seconds later on Rousseau's goal. Beauchemin sent a deep ball into the Blue Devils box that looked like it was heading to Provost on the right wing. Racette broke up the pass with a slide tackle, but the ball bounced back out to Rousseau on the left wing, who caught Tatro out of position and scored to give her team a date with No. 2 Monson on Tuesday.
"Sometimes it just takes a hunger for the ball or a vision for the ball, and you have to crash the net," Mahar said of his team's two goals in the second half. "They put one in and we came right back. That speaks to the kind of talent these girls can play with. They can play such high-end soccer when everything aligns, and tonight things just aligned. We're healthy, we're strong and we're peaking right now."
Drury had a pair of chances to tie the game in the final 10 minutes of play, the first coming on a breakaway attempt by Ferrara on the left wing in which she sent a shot just wide of the right post. Sophomore Alyssa Marceau then collected a rebound off of a corner kick, but her shot was just a little too high and clanged off of the crossbar.
Despite her team's early exit from the tournament, Meczywor said she couldn't have been more proud of the 2011 Blue Devils, a squad that rallied back to win its final three division games to qualify for the playoffs and earn a share of the South title with Mount Greylock.
"In terms of dynamics, this was probably the best team I've ever coached," she said. "They pushed each other, they helped each other, they had each other's backs, they liked each other and they were a team. We weren't necessarily the most skilled team, but they had a lot inside of them this year, and I think that carried us through."
The Hurricanes play at Rogers Field in Monson at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.