MONSON, Mass. – The Mount Greylock girls soccer team Saturday finished the season with just two losses.
Both came against the top-ranked team in the commonwealth.
No. 1 seed Monson beat the Mounties for the second time in two weeks, a 4-0 decision to send the Mustangs to the Division 5 state tournament semi-finals.
Emmy Finnegan scored twice, and Hannah Murphy had a goal and an assist as Monson improved to 19-0-2 this fall.
Mount Greylock (17-2-3) took its first loss of the year in the Western Massachusetts Class D final on Nov. 1.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if [Monson] won a state championship,” Mount Greylock coach Tom Osteheimer said as the Mounties posed with their Final Four banner at Flynt Park and the last rays of daylight disappeared.
“To be here, that’s what we want. When we saw the draw and that side of the bracket and Monson as No. 1 and we were the No. 8, to be here was all we could ask for.”
And just as they did for much of the regional final, the Mounties frustrated the high-powered Monson offense for much of the first half.
In front of Mai O’Connor, who made seven of her eight saves in that first half, Mount Greylock kept Monson off the scoreboard for the first 26 minutes.
“Our defense, with Rowan [Apotsos], Lucy [Igoe], Maddie [Drake], Emma [Newberry], Lexi when she goes in there, Lexi Politis, Mai coming out and making great saves,” Ostheimer said. “We knew they were going to try to shoot outside on Mai, and she made some great, great saves to get them over the bar. She’s the real deal.”
So is Monson, which scored 13 goals in its first two tournament wins.
The Mustangs’ pressure finally paid off in the 27th minute when Finnegan scored on a through ball to break a scoreless tie. Five minutes later, Murphy took a centering pass from the left wing at the top of the 18 and fired a shot into the back of the net to send her team into half-time ahead, 2-0.
The Mounties got their first shot on goal in the closing minutes of the half when co-captain Molly Sullivan set up ninth-grader Nora Lopez for a try from the top of the 18. Monson keeper Sam Stewart made a leaping save to tip the ball over the crossbar for a corner.
Monson got off to a fast start in the second half when Finnegan finished after a run up the middle of the field in the 47th minute to make it 3-0.
“When you get down to a team like this by three goals, you know it’s going to be really, really hard to come back,” Ostheimer said. “Two goals, we had a couple of opportunities to cut in half, but we just didn’t get it done.
“We knew Monson was going to be hard. They just keep coming at you, wave after wave of offensive threats.”
The Mustangs finished the scoring with fewer than 12 minutes left when junior and Clemson University commit Kendall Bodak scored with an assist from Murphy.
Ostheimer had no complaints about his team’s effort on Saturday or its work ethic all season. His only complaint: that he would not get to lead his players in another practice or take them into another game.
“I can say with absolute sincerity that this is my favorite group, and it really was from day one,” said Ostheimer, who has been coaching at Mount Greylock since 2007. “Usually, you’ve got drama and some issues and so forth. But they just worked hard each and every practice and they love the game of soccer and love each other. And that makes it easy to coach them.
“So, yeah, it’s been a joy.”
