Wahconah Girls Gunning for Western Mass Title

The No.1-seeded Wahconah girls soccer team will face the defending 2013 Division 3 Western Massachusetts Champions, Granby, Saturday morning at Westfield State University. Granby was seeded No. 4 in 2013 and beat Wahconah in the quarterfinals, 1-0, in overtime before knocking off top-seeded Hampshire in OT in the semis. This year again, Granby, seeded sixth, knocked off higher seeds on the way to the final: No. 3 Easthampton in the quarters and No. 2 Hampshire on Wednesday night. Both Wahconah's and Granby's semi-final wins came with late goals. For Wahconah, it was two in final three minutes to earn a 2-1 victory over No. 5 Sabis and for Granby and overtime goal against No. 2 Hampshire, earning a 1-0 win and another trip to the Western Mass Finals. These two teams have something in common going into the finals this year; they are both looking to score early and get an early lead, unlike their semi-final games. Wahconah controlled the ball throughout 77 minutes of play in their semi-final game; they outshot Sabis, but their shots were either high or wide of the net of shot right to Sabis goalie Sarah Brown. Wahconah continued trying to drop the ball into the net and it wasn't working for them because Sabis was packing their players in the box. It didn't come until the final three minutes when senior Katie Dumas got possession of a rebounded ball and carried it in to the net that they got on the board. Wahconah coach Pat West is looking to spread the defense Saturday to create those scoring opportunities outside of the box. "We need to score early," West said. "We need to stay wide, hit feet, and keep moving it more quickly into the middle when we've got them spread out." Sophomore Emmy Cote, who put in the winning goal for Wahconah Wednesday night against Sabis; said it was frustrating. They had so many opportunities, but the ball wasn't going in the net. Cote and her teammates agree they need to put the ball in early. "We have to work as a team and string balls together," Cote said. "We just need to shoot and do what we've been doing, but just put it in the net."