Hornets 'Worthy:' PK Gives McCann State Voc Crown
WESTFIELD, Mass. -- Ghosts? Scary. Vampires? Terrifying.
A penalty kick shootout? Not too frightening. Not if you’re the McCann Tech boys soccer team, for whom practice made perfect.
The Hornets defeated Westfield Voc, 7-6, in PKs on Friday afternoon to claim the State Vocational Championship at Bullens Field.
Senior Austin Worth delivered the winning goal with a shot low and to the right of the keeper.
“Yeah, we practiced PKs,” said McCann senior captain Shane Fuller, who took the team’s first penalty try in the shootout.
“I would have preferred to win in regular time, but we did practice PKs,” McCann coach Tom Bona said as his team continued the celebration behind him. “I had them on the field. We planned for this.
“This is awesome. We worked hard for this. We’re starting to come together.”
McCann (14-5-1), playing its fourth game of the week, had enough in the tank to get through 100 minutes of play to get to the shootout.
After going through those 100 minutes without either team finding the net, the Hornets and Tigers combined for 12 straight goals in the shootout -- blowing through the best-of-five phase and the first round of sudden death.
Finally, on the 13th try of the day, Westfield Voc’s booter sent the ball well over the crossbar, setting the stage for Worth.
McCann Tech senior keeper Chris Gajda said it was only the second shootout of his career. The first came back in freshman year, and the Hornets lost to Hoosac Valley.
“I didn’t make any saves [against the Hurricanes],” Gajda said. “I didn’t make any saves today either.”
But Gajda came close on a couple of tries, as did Westfield Voc keeper Vitaliy Covileac.
“I can see their body, and sometimes I can tell by the way they turn their hips right at the shot which way it’s going to go,” Gajda said. “Sometimes I just guess. At the end there, I was guessing.”
Gajda and Covileac made all the right guesses through regulation and two 10-minute sudden death overtime periods. Though truth be told, both teams’ defenses did a good job limiting scoring chances either way.
McCann’s best opportunity of the first half was a free kick by Fuller from deep on the right wing that Covileac turned aside.
In the second half, Westfield Voc had a chance early on a shot that rang off the post. And McCann countered immediately with a try from Jonathan Leal, whose shot from the left wing was saved by Covileac with the rebound caroming off the crossbar.
McCann’s best chance of overtime came early in the first OT. Trejan Skiffington had a throw-in on the right touchline that went right to Leal, who made a run up the wing and fired a shot on goal.
At the other end, Gajda was tested in the 91st minute by a shot from high on the right wing, but he made that save and another with 2 minutes, 30 seconds left in the extra sessions.
In the shootout, McCann got goals from Fuller, Damon Couture, Leal, Nathan Charon, Gajda and Skiffington, who converted the first try of the sudden-death rounds.
For the Hornets, Friday’s win avenged a 6-1 loss at Westfield Voc earlier this season -- a game in which four McCann starters were out with the flu.
The teams will play at least 80 more minutes against one another this year. The MIAA Western Massachusetts Division 4 tournament seeds announced on Friday have McCann, a No. 12 seed, going back to Bullens to meet fifth-seeded Westfield Voc.