Wahconah Explodes for Seven Goals in Win over Taconic
DALTON, Mass. -- Kevin Huban Monday scored the game's first three goals to complete a natural hat trick in the 29th minute of play.
But it was the other four goals Wahconah scored in a 7-3 win over Taconic that caught the attention of Wahconah coach John Kovacs.
"Other guys scored, too, like Pedro [Santos]," Kovacs said. "Pedro's been playing better, and it's been nice because he has great feet. And if he can complement Kevin with goals.
"I think Donovan Keegan got a goal. ... Other guys need to score too, along with Kevin, because people are going to mark Kevin, especially in the North. We play Lenox the second time around, and Kevin had a good game the first time we played them."
Huban scored his first two goals less than a minute apart, cashing in through balls up the left wing. Later, he cashed in an assist from Easton Eberwein, who stole the ball in the middle third, took a touch to center it and delivered a perfect leading pass to Wahconah's top goal-scorer.
Huban added a fourth goal on a free kick from the right wing early in the second half, and Alden Trager, Santos and Keegan each scored goals to extend Wahconah's lead.
Wahconah (4-5-1) needed all the insurance it could get on a day when Taconic (0-6) tripled its goal total for the season.
Lorenzo Gomez-Vasquez got the visitors on the board with less than a minute left in the first half to cut the lead to 4-1.
Santos extended the lead to a four-goal margin with a left-footer from the top of the box just before the break.
And in the second half, the teams traded goals, with Sam Sherman scoring from outside the 18, and Ben Vengalil scoring on a free kick from the left wing for Taconic.
With both teams lighting up the score, you would expect both coaches to have concerns about their defense, and you'd be right.
"The way we gave them up, it was just bad marking," Kovacs said. "Any kind of lapse -- if we don't keep our edge and lose it for that minute -- against a good team from the North ... I mean right now we're starting to play [Berkshire North] teams.
"We've got Lenox on Friday, and actually we have three North games in a row coming up. Now you're getting into the second half of the season, where you're playing your own league, which is very challenging, and then you're getting ready for tournament.
"That's our mission. We want to make it to tournament. We haven't made it three years."
Taconic may not make the tournament, but it had been making it tough for opponents to score until Monday.
"We didn't come out ready to play today," Taconic coach Shaun Stannard said. "In the first half, we were flat all over the place. We didn't pressure like we need to. Then in the second half, we started to pressure a little more and started to make some things happen.
"But we have to come ready to play every game."
The good news for Stannard and his squad is that it did start to find the back of the net on Monday.
"It was nice to put three goals in," he said. "We haven't done that all year. A goal here and there -- but to put three in is definitely going to give us a little confidence in being able to finish stronger."
Jaden Cross made 15 saves for Taconic, which goes to Hoosac Valley on Wednesday.