Herndon-Schmid Leads Lenox Past Hoosac Valley
CHESHIRE, Mass. -- Solia Herndon-Schmid scored a pair of goals, and the Lenox girls soccer team scored three times in the last seven minutes to earn a 5-0 win over Hoosac Valley on Saturday morning.
The Millionaires (9-2-1) continued an eight-game unbeaten streak and qualified for the state tournament.
But it was a closer game than the final score would indicate thanks to Hoosac Valley's strength in the back and the play of freshman keeper Emma Meczywor, who turned aside 12 shots.
"Without a doubt they played us tough," Lenox coach Brian Seminara said. "I think we came out hard. A 2-0 lead at the half, and then I think we said, 'OK, we're good for a bit.
"For whatever reason, it took us a while to wake up, and then I think the last 10, 15 minutes we may have had a little more endurance, and it paid off. The goals just started flowing."
The game-winner came early, when Lenox's Aliza Munch carried the ball in from the left wing and took a shot inside the 18 to make it 1-0 in the fourth minute of play.
Midway through the first half, Lenox doubled its lead when Jenny Collins converted off a through ball up the middle from Mary Elliot.
That is where it stayed until just 6 minutes, 10 seconds remained in the match.
That is when Herndon-Schmid scored her first goal of the game. Less than a minute later, she played the rebound of her own shot off Meczywor and gave Lenox a 4-0 lead.
Finally, Elliot capped hte scoring with an unasssisted goal off a drive from the right wing with 3:01 on the clock.
For the Hurricanes, a season of frustration continued as they failed to add their second goal of the campaign.
Hoosac Valley coach Kathy Budaj said if the Canes (0-12) could find a way to convert one of its offensive chances -- including one in the first half against Lenox keeper Ella Hall (one save), her team might find some momentum to get a positive result as the season hits the home stretch.
"We are so much better than our results," Budaj said. "We're just struggling -- we can't put the ball in the net. And right at the end, we kind of gave up.
"If we had capitalized on that [first-half chance], a 2-1 game, the dynamic would have been totally different. We're not getting that goal that gives yuou that oomph to push on. That makes it hard."
One bright spot for the Hurricanes this fall has been the development of Meczywor, who made a number of point-blank saves on Saturday to help keep the score from getting out of hand before the closing minutes.
"Emma's been doing really well for us," Budaj said. "She came up big for us against Palmer. ... We're just trying to get some consistency."
Lenox, meanwhile, will be looking to keep up its winning ways over the last four regular season games and into a likely Western Mass tournament bid prior to the state tourney at the end of the month.
"It almost feels like we have the kiss of death in that the state rankings came out, and we're currently the third seed," Seminara said. "That's all we're kind of preparing for at this point. There's the little, mini Western Mass tournament of sorts and then the state championship.
"It's all preparation for that -- different formations, trying to rest some players and getting mentally ready to not turn off like we did for 40 minutes in the game today."
Lenox hosts Monson on Wednesday. Hoosac Valley hosts Mahar on Thursday.