McCann Tech Girls Battle to 3-3 Tie
NORTH ADAMS, Mass - Although victory slipped just out of grasp very late in the action, Monday afternoon’s 3-3 draw with the Putnam Beavers should serve as a motivational building block for the McCann Tech Hornets girls soccer team. Having returned to Tri-County play this year, the Hornets are bringing along a young team that is eager to lead the improvement from last year’s struggles.
Monday’s action provided an excellent glimpse into just how far the squad has come already in this young soccer season. The Hornets (1-0-1) were aggressive and unrelenting, and they nearly rallied to victory with two goals in the final 25 minutes of play before a late Putnam score forced the draw.
“We have a nice young team, but there are a lot of freshmen and lots of youth,” McCann head coach Mike Dowling said. “We had some over-passing and some not passing at the right time, so the gel is not there yet. But they do play hard, and I have no qualms about that whatsoever.”
McCann wore down the Beavers late by maintaining a fast pace all the way to the end. Meanwhile, their opponents began to display obvious signs of fatigue that left them vulnerable down the stretch.
Kalis Malcolm salvaged the day for Putnam (0-1-1) when she netted the equalizer with 4:22 left in the contest. Malcolm battled through a scrum just in front of the net, and managed to sneak one past the Hornets goalkeeper after she had fallen to the ground to block a shot just prior.
“We are building this year and this was a tough test,” Dowling said. “We are very fast. They are not as skilled, but Putnam is fast and rough. Sometimes that is tough to play with. They were in the middle of the pack last year, and I want us to be in the middle of the pack this year. So that is what we are striving for.”
The Hornets can certainly take away some confidence in how hard they fought to the very end. With 29:10 left to play, Putnam grabbed a 2-1 advantage when Yulive Peralta got one past the keeper and into the left corner of the net. From that point on the Hornets battled with as much intensity and aggressiveness that they could muster, putting the Beavers on their heels and struggling to find the stamina they needed to keep up with that pace.
“I saw a lot of the triangles that we are working on in practice, and there was always somebody there to pass to,” Dowling said. “When they were working the ball they would see the field very well, and that is what we have been working on. We’re trying to get them familiar with each other and that was our best asset today. We weren’t just running with the ball; we were seeing people and moving the ball. We were not just kicking it and running after it.”
That maximum effort led to two quick goals that gave the Hornets the lead. Molly Boyer evened things up when she found the back of the net unassisted with 22:43 remaining, and just a few minutes later Dana Canales took a pass from Sarah Fortini and bounced the ball off the left bar and into the net for the go-ahead score.
“We are focused on passing and trying to stay in games. Last year we were getting blown out all over the place, playing teams that were way above our heads,” Dowling recalled. “Now we are in the competition, and I enjoyed watching the game today. I can see our girls making those plays in a few more games, hopefully. It is in their head, but it is just not there right now.”
Canales earned a penalty kick with just over two minutes left that could have put McCann back in front, but Putnam goalie Nyla Rodriguez managed to stop the shot to preserve the tie.
“Dana missed the penalty kick and she is bummed about it, but she had to work her butt off to get that penalty kick anyways,” Dowling said.
The two sides exchanged goals early on in the action to take a 1-1 score into the half. Izzy LaCasse got the Hornets on the board after she found the net on a ricochet following a cross from Fortini just a few minutes into the action, and minutes later Syanah Scabrooks responded off an assist from Beba Ramirez to even things back up.
As can be expected with every team this early into the season, there were areas that Dowling will look to see improvement on.
“We were all out of position today,” Dowling said. “My midfielders are freshmen that are still learning the position. They are good little soccer players, but they have a tendency not to play outside. So Putnam got a lot of the balls that were either punted or kicked out there, because we didn’t have anybody there. So we’ve got to work on our positioning.”
The Hornets have a big week still ahead with two mores games to play. McCann hosts Pathfinder on Wednesday and Franklin Tech on Friday.