Monument Mountain, Wahconah Play to a Stalemate
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DALTON, Mass. – The Monument Mountain and Wahconah girls soccer teams battled for 80 minutes on Saturday night and decided absolutely nothing.
They may get a chance to settle the issue in a couple of days.
Olivia Gamberoni scored twice, and Iris Firth and Avery Raifstanger each scored a goal in a 2-2 tie on Senior Night in Dalton.
It was the last regular season game for both teams, but it may not be the last time these former Berkshire North foes lock horns.
“We left it all on the field,” Wahconah coach Maggie Rivers said. “Obviously, we wanted the win. It would have really helped us for Western Mass and states. … We were hoping for a home game. So now we’ll play them.”
If the Western Mass Class B standings hold from their most recent release on Friday, Wahconah (4-8-4) will end up seeded fifth in the eight-team field and have to go to Great Barrington on Tuesday or Wednesday to face Monument Mountain (9-4-3) in the regional quarter-finals.
If they do, fans can expect to see another battle between evenly matched teams.
On Saturday night, the Spartans got on the board first when Firth received a centering pass from Alex Tenney on the right wing and finished for her team-best 12th goal this season in the 12th minute.
Five minutes later, Jade Nelson nearly doubled the lead when she took a pass on the right wing from Firth about 25 yards from goal and drilled a shot that went just wide and into the side panel.
In the 25th minute, Sophia Drury sent a through pass from midfield up the middle for Gamberoni, who split a pair of defenders and raced into the 18 before knocking the ball inside the post past Mead.
It remained a 1-1 game at half-time.
But Monument Mountain went back in front in the 51st minute on an Avery Raifstanger corner kick that curled into the goal.
That lead lasted just four minutes before Wahconah’s Elena Iovieno sent Gamberoni into the 18 with a ball from high on the left wing. Mead came off her line to play it, but an apparent miscommunication with her defender allowed Gamberoni to get the ball behind the keeper for a score into the open net.
Mead made a couple of plays down the stretch to keep it a 2-2 score. In the 69th minute, she caught a corner kick in traffic to deny Wahconah a scoring chance. With about two minutes left to play, she came off her line to keep Gamberoni from getting a shot off a cross from the right wing.
Neither team was satisfied with the result, but both coaches seemed pleased with the efforts they got from their teams.
Monument Mountain’s Miguel Silva said he likes how his team is playing, but he would like to see it get a little more assertive.
“I feel great about the team,” he said. “I think we’ve had a great season. We know what we want to do. We know how we want to play. We just need to get a little bit more aggressive on the ball and go for the 50/50s.
“I think that was something we didn’t do today. We kind of let them beat us to the 50/50s and rely on our skill – which is great. We have a great game. But we need to be a little more aggressive. Aside from that, I’m completely confident in this team right now.”