Cooney, Bond Earn Athlete of the Week Honors
Two key performers on two of the county's top high school soccer teams are this week's iBerkshires.com/Bedard Bros. Athletes of the Week.
The Drury girls soccer team is enjoying one of its best seasons ever, and sophomore Ella Bond has led the way as the team's top scorer.
On Thursday in the semi-finals of the Western Massachusetts Class C Tournament, Bond scored both goals in a 2-0 upset win over Easthampton.
"It feels so good," Bond said after the win. "None of us can even remember the last time we've even made it to the final. And I don't think we've won it, ever."
Drury will look to makes some more program history on Monday at West Springfield High School when it faces Monson, currently the fifth ranked team in the commonwealth in Division 5, in the Western Mass final.
The Blue Devils (9-9-1) are right behind the Mustangs as the No. 6-ranked team in the division.
Monument Mountain's boys went Sunday's Western Mass Class B final as the second-ranked team in Division 4 despite being a game under .500. That is because of the Spartans' brutal schedule that only got tougher with a Western Mass semifinal against Chicopee (fourth in D3) and a final against Pope Francis (second in D3).
The Spartans reached that final thanks to Calvin Cooney's two saves in a shootout win over the Pacers on Thursday night.
His two diving stops in penalty kics were the difference after the teams ended up knotted at 2-2 after 80 minutes of regulation and two 10-minute sudden death overtimes.
On Sunday night at BCC, Cooney backstopped Monument Mountain to a 1-1 tie through 100 minutes before Pope Francis was able to emerge victorious in the Spartans' second shootout in four days.
But just getting to Sunday's game was, for the Spartans as with the Blue Devils, a big deal.
"It feels great," Cooney said on Thursday. "Our assistant coach, Coach Heck, he's been to the finals twice, never won it. Monument hasn't won a final in a minute. We haven't made it to a final in a minute. It's going to be a challenge. Pope's a good team."
Cooney knew what he was talking about. That rough schedule Monument Mountain faced this fall included a non-league home date at the Cardinals, a 2-1 loss in early October.
The iBerkshires.com Athlete of the Week is sponsored by Bedard Bros.