Monument Mountain Shuts Out Mount Greylock on Road

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – Hudson Manzolini had a goal and an assist, and the Monument Mountain boys soccer team Wednesday continued its late season surge.

 

Jackson Nelson and Owen Heck each scored a goal in a 3-0 win over Mount Greylock.

 

The victory avenged a 2-1 loss to the Mounties in Great Barrington and gave the Spartans (3-6-3) a third win in their last four games.

 

“I think at the beginning of the season, we were just a work in progress,” Manzolini said of Monument Mountain’s 0-5-3 start. “We weren’t quite getting in our formation. We’ve been switching around.

 

“The last couple of weeks, we’ve been fighting harder, and everything’s been kind of clicking.”

 

The Spartans also have avenged losses to Hampshire and Pittsfield in the month of October, and it ended September with a 3-3 tie against Agawam, which won, 1-0, when the teams met in their season opener. Last night’s win can only help Monument Mountain’s Division 4 state ranking, which was No. 4 in the in-season rankings released on Tuesday.

 

Coach Matt Naventi said the season started to turn when the Spartans started to finish.

 

“The biggest difference for us has been in the last five games, we’ve scored 14 times, just under three goals a game, whereas we only scored seven goals in our first seven games total,” Naventi said. “So we figured it out on that end.

 

“And we made a couple of tactical changes defensively tonight, and this is the first time since our Frontier 0-0 game that we’ve put up a zero on the defensive side, which is great. So I feel like with how confidently they played defensively and the saves Calvin [Cooney] made that if we can rely on him to make a couple of those good saves a game and that back line was as solid as they were – if we can keep generating on offense, we’re gonna be tough.”

 

Cooney made eight saves on Wednesday, including five in the first half.

 

It looked like the teams would be headed to half-time scoreless until the Spartans converted a corner kick opportunity in the 35th minute.

 

Oliver Curtis sent the ball in from the right wing corner and ended up getting a pass back out to the wing from Mac Zdziarski.

 

Curtis crossed the ball to the other side of the 6, and Jackson Nelson headed it inside the far post to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead at half-time.

 

The Mounties entered the break needing to make some adjustments after seeing three players go down with injuries in the first half.

 

Mount Greylock coach Erin Sullivan agreed that the departures did not make the night any easier.

 

“I think we’re just trying to find a way to maximize the depth of our roster,” Sullivan said. “I think we have a lot of capacity. And we’re trying to maximize the output. What’s hard is, I think some of the personalities of the guys that went down really affect the emotional tenor of the other guys.

 

“Certainly when those injuries happen and pile up this time of year, they’re hard. But we’ve got some hard-nosed lads. When I look at some of the guys that went down tonight, we’ll give them their time to recover and get better, and they’ll come back stronger.”

 

Mount Greylock was able to keep the Spartans from building on the momentum from Nelson’s goal, and the score remained 1-0 most of the second half.

 

It did not help that a steady rain made for slick conditions and appeared to impact both teams’ ability to generate much forward momentum. After combining for 10 shots on goal in the first half, the Spartans and Mounties generated six in the final 40 minutes.

 

But the visitors were able to break through for a couple of goals in the closing stages.

 

First, Milo Potoski passed to Manzolini at the top of the 18, and the senior created some space before burying a shot past a diving Ward Bianchi (eight saves) with 6 minutes, 22 seconds on the clock.

 

“[Manzolini] started as the 9 for us, and we dropped him back to the 10,” Naventi said, using soccer terminology for striker and second striker, respectively. “He’s such a big presence in the middle of the field and is so good technically that he’s a tough matchup for almost any team we play.”

 

The final goal, like the first, came on a set piece for the Spartans.

 

This time, Manzolini tapped the ball to Heck on a direct free kick about 20 yards from the goal, and Heck sent a shot around the wall and under the crossbar to close out the scoring.

 

Monument Mountain has a week off to get ready for its game next Wednesday at home against Westfield.

 

Mount Greylock (4-8) plays the Bombers first when the teams square off in Westfield on Friday.

 

Photos from this game to come.