McCann Tech Girls Clinch Western Mass Bid

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- The McCann Tech girls soccer team has a lot of goals left to achieve this season, but the Hornets reached a big one on Thursday, qualifying for the Western Massachusetts tournament with a 5-1 win over Pathfinder.

 

Allie Gibeau scored twice and Aimee Dowling had a goal and an assist as McCann Tech (9-5) won for the fourth time in five games.

 

Pathfinder got on the board first when Tiffany Papesh converted on a counter in the 10th minute.

 

From there, the first half was all McCann Tech as the Hornets took a 4-1 lead into the break.

 

“The first goal was a little bit of a wakeup call,” McCann coach Mike Dowling said. “But from there we settled down and controlled the game. Things were a little sloppy in the second half.”

 

The wind and rain both picked up toward the end of the first half, and the stiff breeze carried into the second half, when the wind was at Pathfinder’s back.

 

“It kept them in that end quite a bit more because their clearing passes went a lot farther,” Dowling said. “But we controlled the game.

 

“We passed the ball well. Kept going to the ball well.”

 

The equalizer came just 29 seconds after Pathfinder took its lead.

 

McCann’s Julia Esoldi was fouled inside the 18, earning the Hornets a penalty kick. Dowling went to the spot and drilled a shot past keeper Mackayla Weldon (13 saves).

 

It stayed tied for about 10 minutes before Gibeau scored from 22 yards out to give McCann the lead for good.

 

Freshman Dana Canales scored after making a run down the left wing, and Gibeau added a goal with nine seconds left from the top of the 18 to make it 4-1.

 

Midway through the second half, Dowling set up Esoldi to provide the final margin.

 

Alanza Quinones made eight saves to earn the win for McCann, which continues its season Monday at home against Putnam, a team it beat 4-0 the first time around.

 

The Hornets hope they have plenty more left to play after the four remaining regular season games.

 

“We still have our State Voc tournament to look forward to, and now we’ve made Western Mass,” Dowling said.