Hoosac Survives Scare with Frontier, Clinches WMass. Berth
CHESHIRE, Mass. — The Hoosac Valley girls' soccer team was riding a four-game win streak coming into Saturday's home game against winless Frontier. Win streaks and losing records didn't mean much to the outcome of Saturday's game, however, especially when the Red Hawks took a 1-0 lead late in the first half and rallied with two goals to tie the game midway through the second half.The Hurricanes, who were playing for a spot in the Division 2 Western Mass. tournament on Saturday, eventually found a way past Frontier, however, using a goal by eighth-grader Lily Kronick in the 68th minute to pull out a 4-3 win at home. The match ended up being a challenging one for Hoosac, which won its fifth straight game to improve to 8-2 on the year and secure a playoff spot with six more games to go.
"We played St. Joe's last night, so the girls literally went home and slept in their uniforms last night," Hurricanes head coach Blair Mahar said of team's weekend schedule. "They got up this morning and put their cleats back on, so two games in less than 14 hours was tough on them. How they had any energy left in the 78th minute was beyond me."
The closeness of Saturday's game was due partly to Hoosac's tired legs and mainly because of the play of Red Hawks' goalie Camila Baronas. The Frontier keeper was credited with nine saves in the game, but snuffed out countless other Hurricane opportunties by aggressively coming off her line to shrink the field of play. She was nearly perfect in the first half, keeping Hoosac off the board for the first 39 minutes of the game despite the hosts earning a 13-2 edge in shots in the opening frame.
"Our goalie is excellent," Red Hawks head coach Jenn Self said. "We were a little flat when we first came out today, but we picked it up in the end. I was happy with the way we played, especially the effort from our goalie."
Baronas' play was particularly frustrating for midfielders Danielle Beauchemin and Megan Rodowicz, two players who have been on fire during the 'Canes four-game winning streak. The two Hoosac captains have combined to score nine goals and collect eight assists in the past four games but were unable to solve Baronas until late in the first half.
It ended up being a really tough day for Beauchemin, who had a handful of one-on-one encounters with Baronas, only to see her shots go just wide of the empty net, hit the post or fall into the diving hands of the Frontier goalie.
"I don't know how a girl can work so hard and not get a goal," Mahar said. "But she makes the plays happen. She's constantly moving on that ball, slotting the ball through the defense for Meg or Lily Kronick. She's just a playmaker for us."
After pretty much dominating play in the first half, the 'Canes were pretty shocked to see the Red Hawks (0-9-2) take a 1-0 lead on just their second shot of the game and first corner kick of the match. Hoosac failed to clear the ball on the corner kick, allowing it to take one bounce to the back post, where Ashley Barrington one-timed it into the left side of the goal.
A shocking deficit seem to ignite the hosts, however, and Beauchemin and Rodowicz were finally able to connect on their team's first goal with just under a minute left in the first half. Beauchemin lofted a ball into the left side of the goal box, where Rodowicz was able to avoid the tackle by Baronas and score with a shot into the right corner of the net.
"I thought we had a lot of nice opportunities, just nothing was clicking and nothing was going in for us," Rodowicz said. "I wasn't too worried, though, because I knew our team would finally find something that would work. I think [the goal before halftime] boosted up our spirits, and it was pretty big I guess."
Rodowicz's goal before halftime was just a sign of things to come for the Hurricanes, who found the back of the net three times in the second half. Rodowicz scored her second goal of the game and team-leading 10th tally of the season eight and half minutes into the second half, taking the ball 15 yards past the half-field line and dribbling through the Frontier defense. She kept the ball on her right foot the whole time and beat Baronas inside the near post to give Hoosac its first lead of the game.
"I don't really know what was going through my head," Rodowicz admitted when asked about her second goal. "I just tried to touch it away from pressure and shoot away from the goalie. She was coming right on me, so I tried to make her commit to one side and pass it the other way."
Freshman Marissa Felter then made 3-1 a minute later, taking advantage of a Baronas' bobble, touching it past the keeper and scoring into the open net. That looked like it would be enough for the Hurricanes to prevail, but the visitors scored two more goals over the next 11 minutes of the game to tie the score back up. Megan Farrick's goal was just a great individual play, blasting a shot from 30 yards out that hit off Hoosac goalie Megan Richardson's hands and fell into the net. The equalizer was a great combination play, however, as Casey Michalowski hit Amanda Calvo in stride with a pass into the goal box. Calvo beat Richardson (three saves) with a low shot to tie the game with 19 and half minutes to play.
"I think we controlled the ball a lot more in the second half," Self said. "We kept it on the ground and passed it around. I told my center halves that they need to shoot more from the outside, so they took more shots in the second half, and that's how Megan scored her goal."
Mahar ackknowledged that his team's defense was a little lax on Saturday.
"We were getting tired and we weren't pressuring the ball immediately," Mahar said. "You let a good player like that take a shot outside the 20, and she's going to take it. You can't let them breathe. Any player has three options. She's going to pass, dribble or shoot, and you have to take away those options. When we back off that is when we give the other team too much space."
Thankfully for the Hurricanes, they have one last trick up their sleeve. Similar to the second goal Rodowicz scored, Kronick made a run up the left wing, drew Baronas out of the goal and fired a shot inside the right corner of the net. It was just another standout play for Kronick, who has scored six goals so far since being brought up from the JV team recently.
"I pulled up halfway through the season, and she's been awesome," Mahar said. "She works nicely with Meg and Danielle. She's aggressive and she has an eye for the ball and an eye for the net. We pulled up her after Alyssa Bush went down with an ACL tear, and she's been an awesome asset."