Mount Everett Scores in OT to Take Western Mass Title
AGAWAM, Mass. – Less than a minute into Wednesday’s Western Massachusetts Class E title game, Smith Academy stunned Mount Everett with a goal to open the game.
Eighty-four minutes later, Chevelle Raifstager ended it.
Raifstanger scored her second of the game in the eighth minute of overtime to give the Eagles a 2-1 win and a Western Mass crown at Agawam High School.
“I was trying to assist on them, but we all try to work together as a team to get the goal to get the win,” Raifstanger said.
Both scores came out of scrambles in the middle of the 18 – the game-winner off a corner kick that hit a few different players before Raifstanger fired a left-footed shot that ticked off the post and into the goal.
The victory improved Mount Everett’s record to 12-4-3 overall and 7-1-2 in its last 10 games.
It also showed how the Eagles’ belief in themselves and one another paid off after a shaky start.
“I try to play with confidence, but always in the back of my mind there’s the doubt,” said Emma Goewey, who made 10 saves, including two in sudden death overtime, after that Smith Academy goal. “I knew our team, and I knew our will of wanting this game.
“We’ve been talking about this game from the second we beat Hopkins [in the Western Mass semis]. We didn’t even celebrate too much. We were like, ‘Alright, we have things to do.’ This feels great.”
The rest of the Eagles have plenty of confidence in their senior keeper, who has allowed fewer than one goal per game while stopping 120 shots this fall.
“We see a lot of it on the field, but that kid does a lot of things outside – being a leader, showing the kids how to act, how to behave and all those little things that don’t show up on a stat sheet,” Mount Everett coach Joshua King said. “And when she comes on the field, she’s definitely that girl who steps up and leads. It’s gonna hurt losing her next year. She’s a great kid.”
The Eagles took a while to get their bearings after giving up the early goal, but toward the end of the first half, Mount Everett started to establish some offensive pressure and generate some dangerous opportunities.
The momentum carried over through half-time as Raifstanger scored just 30 seconds into the second half to tie the game.
“On the big stage, they were kind of nervous and a little shell-shocked, I think,” King said. “Once we got that goal in the second half in the first few seconds, it was huge because it brought our confidence back and showed that we can play.
“It just takes one – one touch, one pass, one opportunity.”
In a game where early goals were the norm, Mount Everett had the first strong chance of the extra session when Emily Steuernagle dribbled through several defenders to bring the ball in from midfield and create space for herself just outside the 18. But her shot deflected off the nearside post and over the goal line.”
“I thought Em was gonna get it again like she did at Hopkins,” King said, referring to Steuernagle’s overtime game-winner at the second-seeded Golden Hawks. “I’m glad Chevelle was able to step up this year. She’s battled a lot of injuries, and it was huge.
“Everyone has stepped up when they had to this year, and they got the job done.”