Mounties Left Hoping for More Against Warriors
DALTON, Mass. -- After earning a 1-1 draw with Wahconah in the final game of the regular season one week ago, the Mount Greylock girls' soccer team was hoping for a little bit more than a 3-0 loss in the quarterfinal round of the Division 2 Western Mass. tournament on Tuesday.The sixth-seeded Mounties (11-6-3) couldn't catch a break against the third-seeded Warriors (9-3-5), however, who used two goals by junior Gabby Lavinio to advance to Thursday's semifinal game against No. 2 Monson. Wahconah pounded out 29 shots against Greylock goalie Margot Besnard and took an early lead when Alex Keator scored unassisted in the fifth minute of play.
Tom Ostheimer's club earned a great chance to get back in the game when junior Alex Majetich broke in alone on the Warriors' goal in the 20th minute. Majetich, who led the Mounties' offense with nine goals and six assists this season, chipped the ball past Wahconah keeper Kelcie Yarmey, only to watch as freshman Katherine Lewis tracked it down at the six-yard line and cleared it away to rob Greylock of the game-tying goal.
Just over four minutes later, Lavinio broke the visitors' back by sailing a shot over the head of Besnard to give the hosts a 2-0 lead. Lavinio later put the game away for good in the second half by scoring off of an assist from Maddie Sprague in the 66th minute.
Besnard finished the game with 14 saves, just another outstanding effort in a season in which she posted nine shutouts. In 19 games this year, Besnard made 191 saves and allowed 23 goals, good enough for an impressive 1.2 goals per game average.
Although the final result was a bit of disappointment, the Mounties have to be pleased with the way they surpassed expectations this year. Ostheimer had a young team that lost a lot of seniors at the beginning of the season, but his squad came to play, earning a share of the South Division title with Drury and earning a 1-0 win over Easthampton in the first round of the WMass. tournament on Saturday.