Lenox Snaps Skid with Win over Drury
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – After scoring just five goals in its last five matches, the Lenox girls soccer team got out of its slump in a big way on Wednesday afternoon at Drury.
Madison DiGrigoli and Lauren Bridges each scored a pair of goals as the Millionaires earned a 6-1 win over the Blue Devils to snap a four-game losing streak.
Sophia Carraro stopped 11 shots for Lenox, which scored three times in the first 12 minutes of the second half to take a 5-0 lead and never looked back in improving to 4-5-1 this fall.
“I think we’re definitely getting there and making huge progress today,” Lenox coach Ollie Welch said. “We’re still ironing out some kinks. I was really happy with the performance today. It was a great way to snap our little losing streak that we got into there.
“It was great to see some goals and that type of production.”
Lenox applied pressure right away, earning its first shot on goal in the second minute of play and putting a goal on the scoreboard in the fourth minute.
DiGrigoli and Bridges made a run on a ball sent in over the top from midfield. DiGrigoli deflected the ball forward to a Drury defender, who attempted to clear, but Bridges intercepted the ball and fired a shot past a diving Regan Walker (nine saves).
Drury nearly answered moments later on a corner kick. But Carraro made the initial save in the mixer, and Megan McGrath’s try on the rebound went off the post.
“She’s worth her weight in gold, Sophia,” Welch said of his keeper. “She’s doing an amazing job. And she’s a super, super talented player. She loves to play in the field as well, so we try to get her out when we can, but sometimes I just can’t let her out.”
In the ninth minute, Carraro kept it a 1-0 game with a stop on Drury’s Ashlyn Hayden.
Lenox finally got some breathing room in the 18th minute.
A shot by Madeline Pope went off the crossbar and then off the Drury keeper before finding the net for an own goal to make it 2-0.
The Blue Devils, already short-handed going into the game, were dealt a blow late in the first half when senior Jacinta Felix, who was battling illness, had to head to the bench for the remainder of the game.
“They started out really strong – a lot of passes, a lot of good defense – but we’ve still got a lot of sick kids, a lot of injured kids, we’re pulling people up from JV,” Drury assistant coach Shannon Daugherty said.
“It’s tough [to see Felix head to the bench]. Most of these girls can step in and kind of shift over and cover for each other. I like to feel like if we’re down one, we’ll be OK. … But we’re down more than one of our solid core right now.”
Walker, one of the junior varsity call-ups, played well in her varsity debut, but Lenox’s pressure was relentless, especially in the opening stages of the second half.
Pope scored in the 43rd minute to make it 3-0. Just more than a minute later, Bridges set up DiGrigoli. With 28 minutes, 14 seconds left on the clock, DiGrigoli knocked in a loose ball from about 20 yards out to give Lenox a 5-0 lead.
The Blue Devils did not fold the tents.
In the 58th minute, McGrath made a run up the middle of the field and fired a hard shot on goal that Carraro was able to deny. And six minutes later, Madison Saunders dribbled through two Lenox defenders to find space at the top of the 18 and fired home a shot to get Drury on the board.
But the Blue Devils were not able to capitalize on that momentum. And in the 68th minute, Bridges scored again, this time putting back the rebound of a shot by Lila Kousch.
Lenox Friday will be home looking to avenge a September loss against Monument Mountain.
Drury (2-6-1) also is home on Friday to face Hoosac Valley.