Wahconah Comes Back, Wins Second Straight Western Mass Crown

PITTSFIELD, Mass. – For Anna Doyle and the Wahconah girls lacrosse team on Tuesday, going left was all right.

 

Doyle scored on a bounce shot with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter to break a 12-12 tie and send Wahconah on to a 13-12 win over Mount Greylock in the Western Massachusetts Class C Championship Game.

 

Doyle’s first goal of the game also marked the first time she tried a new shooting approach.

 

“I was struggling all game to get a goal or even an assist, so … it felt super good,” she said of the game-winner. “Going to the net, I was like, ‘All right, I’ve got this.’ And I shot with my left hand, which I’ve never done before. And that just shows you have got to have confidence, and it will all work out.”

 

Doyle explained that she has worked on a left-handed shot in practice, but this was the first time she pulled it out in a game.

 

“I just saw a little gap that they gave me, and they were pressuring out on me,” she said. “So I was like: I’m just go right by them, and it went in.”

 

Wahconah’s defense and its ability to run clock on offense made that goal stand up.

 

After combining for 25 goals in the game’s first 39 minutes, the teams did not find the back of the net in the final nine minutes.

 

Brooke Harrington scored four goals, and Abigail Rodhouse had a hat trick as Wahconah won its second straight Western Mass title and the rubber match against the Mounties in the third one-goal game between the teams this spring.

 

At the outset, it looked like one of the teams might find some separation this time around as Mount Greylock scored the game’s first six goals.

 

Reese Raymond (two goals, two assists) scored twice in that run, which ended when Adele Low (two goals, one assist) converted a free position opportunity in the 11th minute of play.

 

Gianna Heilbroun (two goals, one assist) finally got Wahconah on the scoreboard with 41 seconds left in the quarter, but that goal did little to erase the sting of a disappointing first period.

 

“Our warm-ups were poor, and I wasn’t even getting on them because it’s hot, and I knew they were trying to conserve energy,” Wahconah coach Kathy Budaj said. “It definitely translated into the first quarter.”

 

Wahconah righted its ship in the second quarter, though, outscoring the Mounties, 5-2 to get to half-time down by two after Harrington circled around from behind the goal and fired a shot into the top of the goal to make it 8-6.

 

“We definitely were super down,” Doyle said of Wahconah’s mood between the first and second quarters. “Our warm-ups were …. They weren’t very good, so it definitely reflected in how we were playing in the first quarter.

 

“But … we got a good talk from our coach, and we really stuck together, which is what we were missing. We weren’t playing as a team, and then we started playing as a team, and it ended up very good.”

 

Mount Greylock clung to its lead until late in the third quarter, despite losing starting keeper Teigan Brady to an injury midway through the second.

 

Addison Fuls came off the bench and did yeoman’s work for the Mounties, giving them a chance to stay on top and, later, get back on top after Rodhouse tied the game with a one-timer  to make it 10-10 with 2:36 left in the third.

 

“I’m super proud of [Fuls],” Mount Greylock coach Jeff Stripp said. “We’ve been working with her all year long. She’s never played goalie before. She kind of opted in when we needed a goalie to back up [Brady], and I thought she did a great job in a big moment. She made some really nice saves, some free position saves.”

 

Wahconah’s Rodhouse scored her third goal of the third quarter with an assist from Mia Thomas (one goal, one assist) that gave their team its first lead at 11-10.

 

The Mounties’ Olivia Perez scored her second of the game to tie it, but Wahconah answered 15 seconds later with a free position goal from Danielle Hagmaier (two goals) to make it 12-11 going to the fourth quarter.

 

Mount Greylock’s Elly Wilkinson completed her hat trick with a goal in the 38th minute to tie it, but a little more than a minute later, Doyle broke the final tie of the game.

 

The Mounties had a couple of looks at the goal over the next five minutes that were just wide of the mark, and Wahconah played just enough keepaway over the final three minutes to keep the ball in its offensive zone and keep the clock running.

 

As evenly matched as Wahconah and Mount Greylock have been all season, it is not surprising that they went into Tuesday’s game ranked No. 11 and No. 12, respectively, in the latest MIAA in-season power rankings for Division 4.

 

The state tournament brackets are set to be released on Friday. Mount Greylock’s Stripp said he has no doubt his team will bounce back from Tuesday’s disappointment and refocus on the next task at hand.

 

“What’s really fun about them is they’re resilient,” he said. “I’m not worried about them, collectively. They really treat each other as a family. … There’s going to be some emotions, but they have gone through the adversity of the last loss to Wahconah, and they bounce back. And I think we’ll do much the same.”

 

Photos from this game to come.