Greylock Blanks Taconic, Clinches Playoff Berth
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Brothers Nathan and Jonah Majumder are vitally important to the success of the Mount Greylock boys' soccer team this year. Nathan, an offensive force out of his attacking midfield position, scores a majority of the Mounties' goals, while Jonah does a lot of the dirty work on the defensive end for Greylock.On Thursday, both Majumder brothers got into the scoring column for the first time together in their Mounties' career. Nathan scored his second hat trick of the season to give him 13 goals for the year, while Jonah notched the first varsity strike of his career, scoring off of a pass from sophomore Eric Hirsch in the 73rd minute to cap Greylock's 4-0 road win over Taconic.
Jonah's breakthrough goal was a celebratory moment for the Mounties, which improved to 9-0 on the season and clinched a spot in the Division 2 Western Mass. tournament.
"Jonah finally scored a varsity goal," Greylock head coach Blair Dils said. "He doesn't get a chance to get forward, but because Taconic had dropped so many players back, Jonah was able to move into the midfield. It wasn't the cleanest of goals, a defender deflected the initial shot and the keeper got a hand on it, but it went in the back of the net and that's all that matters to Jonah. The bench erupted when he scored, which shows how much the younger players look up to him and how hard he works."
While it was Jonah's goal that the Mounties will most remember, it's was Nathan's free-kick tally a minute before halftime that set Greylock on the course to victory. The Braves' packed-in defense held the visitors off the scoreboard for a majority of the first half, but Nathan finally broke through with a well-taken free kick from 25 yards out.
He added two more goals in the second half, scoring off the first of Hirsch's two assists in the 47th minute before headed in a corner kick from sophomore Benni McComish 15 minutes later.
"Taconic dropped in all ten field players, which made for a lot of ball possession for us throughout the game," Dils said. "We made a point to come out in the second half with more energy and to try to put the game away. Eric made an outstanding endline run to get Nathan the ball for the second goal, which he powered through the legs of the helpless goalkeeper. Benni then played a perfect ball in on a corner kick, and Nathan simply outworked his man to get to the ball first."
Sophomore David Majetich was strong on the defensive end for the Mounties, helping goalkeeper Sean Houston (four saves) earn his fifth shutout of the year. Kevin Squires made seven stops in net for the Braves (1-6-2), who next host Pittsfield for a game at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
Greylock also returns to action that day with a 6 p.m. contest against Divison 1 Amherst.
"We were strong tonight, but we'll need to be better on Saturday against Amherst," Dils said.