Peplowski Has Goal, Assist as Generals Rally Past Lenox

PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- Luke Peplowski scored the tying goal and set up the winning goal as the Pittsfield boys soccer team Friday came from behind for a 2-1 win over Lenox at Kirvin Park.

 

The Generals (3-4) erased a half-time deficit and snapped a two-game losing streak in getting their first win in the Berkshire County North Division.

 

Pittsfield coach Andrew Antil called the win a step forward for his squad.

 

“They’re high school boys, and some days they come out like we did against Chicopee and Minnechaug, and other days they come out like we did against Greylock and Wahconah and Shepherd Hill.

 

“I think we needed to shake things up a little bit and try something new, and it clicked. It’s still very raw and unrefined, but it’s something.”

 

Lenox coach Camilo Bermudez said he saw something different from Pittsfield coming out of half-time.

 

“I think PHS came out with the right tactic in the second half,” he said. “I think PHS was trying to play a little bit more in the middle. I think once they played us more direct, we had to work a little harder, and we were on our heels.

 

“And, obviously, I would have loved to have made a deeper sub in the center midfield at the end to get more control, but we didn’t have that.”

 

Lenox (3-2) came into Friday’s games with just three subs available due to injuries.

 

“And that’s not an excuse,” Bermudez said. “I actually think [Pittsfield] played very well in the second half. It was a game of two halves. We won the first one, and they won the second one. Obviously, they had more goals.”

 

In the first half, the Millionaires kept the Generals off the board as Daniel Munch made five of his 10 saves in the first 40 minutes.

 

Midway through the first half, Lenox converted its best chance of the game on a counter with Andre Collins finishing to put his team on top.

 

“That’s kind of how we’ve been managing these games because, like I said, we’re pretty thin with the subs,” Bermudez said. “So we kind of just hold to absorb pressure and then play the counter. And we got it.

 

“But the thing is, if you’re gonna play like that, you’re always going to play on a knife’s edge. … In the second half, when they scored two goals, we just sort of were like chasing the game.”

 

The Generals wasted no time putting the pressure on Lenox after half-time.

 

Ryan Muller sent a cross from deep on the left wing into the 18-yard-box, where Peplowski headed it into the back of the net in the 42nd minute to tie the game.

 

Sixteen minutes later, Peplowski sent a ball over the top from midfield for David Kankam, who ran onto the ball and finished for the game-winner.

 

“[Peplowski] is very creative,” Antil said. “He’s very good. He’s a top player in the county and up there with the rest of Western Mass as well.

 

“But it really took everybody else to kind of step up. … Even he, just like everybody else, has to play within themselves and play within their means. He’s a great player, but he needs to play within his means and know what he can do and what he can’t do.

 

“It was nice to see everybody step up. Everyone was talking a little more. It was a team victory, for sure.”

 

Antil said even a player whose contribution might go unnoticed had a big impact.

 

“Someone like Petie Breitmaier -- every play we had going forward went through him, and he stepped up big time today,” Antil said. “And in ways that are very subtle -- feeding the ball to Luke, keeping our shape in the middle of the field, and so on and so forth. And our defense played well.”

 

Avi Snowise made a couple of saves for Pittsfield, which hosts Monument Mountain next Thursday.

 

The Millionaires will see the Spartans first, in Lenox on Tuesday.