Furlong's Late Goal Lifts Wahconah Girls

DALTON, Mass. -- Freshman Noelle Furlong scored from the top of the 18 in the 70th minute to give the Wahconah girls soccer team a 1-0 win over Lenox on Saturday night.

 

The victory gave Wahconah a .500 record and two points on a night when it dominated play -- compiling a 13-5 edge in shots on goal -- but occasionally may have settled for shots too early in its possessions.

 

“We had a hard time at the beginning of the season not shooting,” Wahconah coach Meghan Smith said. “Then we needed to tell them to shoot.

 

“Then this week in practice, we needed to define when to shoot and when to chip the ball. We still need to practice that -- when there’s a shot, when there’s a chip or when we can dribble a little more and then shoot.

 

“But it paid off for Noelle today to shoot outside.”

 

Chloe Accardi found Furlong in space about 22 yards from the goal, and she settled the ball before driving it low and to the right of a diving Sophie Patella (12 saves).

 

“She does a good job of staying calm and composed,” Smith said of Furlong.

 

Wahconah, which was shut out in its first two games, has won three of its last four to get to 3-3 on the season.

 

Michaella Moncecchi made five saves to earn the win between the pipes.

 

At the other end of the field, eighth-grader Sophie Patella continued to impress. She has allowed 1.5 goals per game in four starts, stopping 39 of 45 shots for an .867 save percentage for the Millionaires (2-3).

 

“We have to give a lot of credit to our defense,” Lenox coach Kyle Zinchuk said. “And we have to give Sophie, our goalie, a lot of credit because they played an outstanding game tonight.

 

“We’re working as a team toward playing a full 80 minutes of solid soccer. We’ve been getting better and better. Tonight, we had about 70 minutes. We had a five- to 10-minute span where we were slow stepping to some things, and that’s where they found that space and were able to line up that shot.

 

“But the defense played a really strong game.

 

Lenox goes to Monument Mountain on Monday.

 

Wahconah is at Ludlow on Monday.