Team Effort Lifts Pittsfield Boys at Wahconah

DALTON, Mass. -- Trailing most of the game at Wahconah, the Pittsfield boys lacrosse team drew within a goal midway through the third quarter when Sean Baruch found the back of the net.

 

Nine seconds later, the Generals scored again to tie things up.

 

That spark lifted Pittsfield to an 8-6 win under the lights for a third straight win.

 

After Baruch made it a 4-3 game, Mason Papirio won the ensuing faceoff and dashed through the midfield before dishing to Josh Kozlowski, who buried a shot to bring the Generals even.

 

Wahconah took one more lead, at 5-4, before the third quarter ended, but it was all Pittsfield in the fourth as the Generals outscored their hosts, 4-1, in the final 12 minutes.

 

“That’s a momentum swinger right there,” Pittsfield coach Scott Aitken said of the two-goal spurt. “Kids feed off of that, which is nice. We made some changes on faceoffs, and Mason just did an incredible job the entire game.

 

“I thought he was going to be done when he hurt his shoulder. But he said he was all right and just kept plugging away. … Faceoffs were big down the stretch because we needed possession.”

 

Cam Giradina scored the first goal of the fourth quarter from about eight yards out to make it 5-5.

 

Two minutes later, Kevin Quinto came in from the right wing and took a low shot to beat Wahconah goalie Vinnie Orlandi and give PHS (7-5) its first lead.

 

Less than a minute later, Papirio made a move on the left wing to get into shooting position, fired a shot that Orlandi stopped but grabbed his own rebound and went high for a goal to make it 7-6.

 

Wahconah (9-6) rallied with a goal by Connor Washburn from high on the left wing with 5 minutes, 12 seconds on the clock.

 

And Wahconah had two man-up chances in the last three minutes down a goal. But on the second man-down situation, Pittsfield’s Quinto scored out of a scramble in front of Wahconah’s goal with Orlandi out of position to provide the final margin.

 

Quinto finished with two goals and an assist, and Giradina scored twice for PHS, which got some strong goaltending from Nikolai Pixley, especially in the first half, when Wahconah had the majority of the scoring chances but went to half-time with just 3-2 lead.

 

Washburn and Dart Jaggi each scored twice for Wahconah, which came in having won five of its first six and which beat Pittsfield, 8-6, back on April 14.

 

“With them, it’s always a coin flip,” Wahconah coach Zach Sondrini said. “I just think we made a lot of mental mistakes. I think our youth really showed up at the end of the game, but I’m proud of the way they fought.

 

“We fought hard. It’s just that throwing the ball away a little bit at the end of the game costs you.”

 

Wahconah gets its next chance to clinch a Western Mass playoff bid on Monday at home against Hoosac Valley as Sondrini’s team plays five of its last six in Dalton.

 

Pittsfield hosts Taconic on Saturday afternoon at Egremont Elementary School.

 

Aitken hopes Friday night’s performance can be a springboard for the Generals.

 

“We started out shaky, but I just told them that was probably our best team performance of the season,” Aitken said. “Everyone, from the goalie all the way to attack, played well down the stretch. That was a good team win for us.

 

“I’m pretty psyched.”