Henderson Scores Game-Winner as Spartans Rally Past Mount Greylock

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. – Once the Monument Mountain boys soccer team got its defense straightened out, the offense took care of itself.

 

Hudson Manzolini scored a pair of goals and set up Erving Henderson for the game-winner Saturday night as the Spartans came back from a two-goal half-time deficit to earn a 3-2 win over Mount Greylock.

 

Monument Mountain scored three times in the last 23 minutes, including Henderson’s laser from the left wing in the 75th minute to complete a season sweep of the Mounties, snap a three-game losing skid and go back over the .500 mark at 5-4-1.

 

Spartans coach Matt Naventi said the turnaround started in the back.

 

“The challenge that I gave them was to stop letting our goalkeeper down with the poor individual efforts we’ve had giving goals away in games,” Naventi said. “And we gave a couple away. We made it easy for them in the first half, in the first 10 minutes of the game.

 

“Ideally, that’s not the way you want to start a game ever. And they stepped up to that challenge. We did face some pressure at the start of the second half, but Luke [Arienti] made some phenomenal saves and, in a lot of ways, he’s the one who kept us in this game. He did his job, and, thankfully, they turned it on.”

 

Arienti made 12 saves – eight in the second half.

 

There was not much he could do in the opening moments, when Henrik Bingmann found Quinn McDermott for an open look with 38 minutes, 13 seconds left in the half. McDermott buried the shot and gave the Mounties a 1-0 lead before either team had settled into the game.

 

Seven minutes later, Bingmann took a pass from Arthur Greenfield deep down the left wing and centered the ball into the 18 for Caleb Low, who one-timed a shot past Arienti to make it a 2-0 game.

 

“[Bingmann] has been scoring goals, he’s been assisting on goals, so he’s been a real bright light for us offensively,” Mount Greylock coach Blair Dils said. “Those are the kinds of things we’ve been working on in training, so it was very satisfying to see that.

 

“It was a great start by us, and that’s something we were struggling with earlier in the season. We were giving up goals in the first 10 minutes, so for us to come out and bang a couple right away felt really good at the time.”

 

And the Mounties had reason to feel good right through the first half and well into the second, when they generated the majority of the game’s quality scoring chances.

 

Unfortunately for Mount Greylock, which has scored as many as three goals just twice this fall, Saturday did not become the third time.

 

“Boy, if we get that third goal, and we had a couple of good looks in the first 10 minutes [of the second half] … “ Dils said. “Once [the Spartans] got a little life, they were difficult to deal with for that last 30 minutes or so.

 

“We’re going to regret a couple of those opportunities in particular tonight.”

 

Midway through the second half, Monument Mountain earned a free kick about 20 yards from the goal. Henderson made a touch on the ball and left it for Manzolini, who banged home a shot to get the home team on the board with 22:45 left to play.

 

“We’ve always struggled with coming back,” Manzolini said. “It’s always been a fight. But these boys, many, we’ve got heart.

 

“In the circle, we were just talking about, ‘What if, what if?’ And to really make it happen, man, it’s a pleasure.”

 

Two minutes later, the Mounties came within inches of pushing the margin back to two goals when Dylan Nevarez fired a shot from the right wing that required a diving save from Arienti.

 

“He’s made really good saves in our last couple of games, and we’ve had really tough competition, playing Ludlow, Agawam, Pope Francis,” Naventi said. “He’s been getting a lot of action, and he’s been doing his part to keep us in games. The unfortunate part is we’ve been giving up so many good looks to teams because of defensive lapses.

 

“That’s what we’ve got to clean up for the rest of our season.”

 

Two minutes after Arienti’s diving stop to keep the Spartans within one, Manzolini tied the game with an assist from Higa with 18:22 left to play.

 

At about the 68-minute mark, he nearly completed the hat trick by getting a head on a Henderson corner kick from the left wing, but the redirect went just wide of frame for a goal kick.

 

Then, with just more than five minutes left to play, Manzolini launched a through ball down the left-wing touchline for Henderson, who outraced a defender and nailed a shot just between the near post and a diving Dan Warren (five saves) to give the Spartans the lead.

 

“All I saw was the ball, and I had a glimpse of the goal,” Henderson said. “And I knew if I got it perfectly right into that bottom left, I knew I could get it in.”

 

The Spartans have a quick turnaround, going on the road to BCC on Monday night to play Pittsfield.

 

Mount Greylock (4-4-3) enjoys a couple of days off before it goes to Pittsfield on Wednesday.