Wahconah Girls Find Mark in Win over Pittsfield

DALTON, Mass. -- The Wahconah and Pittsfield girls soccer teams did not light up the scoreboard like the boys game that preceded them on Monday.

 

But the three goals scored by Wahconah in a 3-0 win were a welcome sight for coach Meghan Smith.

 

"We've had some trouble finding the back of the net," Smith said. "And I think they did a nice job with that today. I thought that our shots were a little more logicial."

 

Monday's win gave Wahconah a 6-3-1 record and ended a run of three games in which it scored just one goal.

 

"We're trying to have composure in that box," Smith said. "We're going to continue to make sure that when that ball crosses the 6, that somebody's on it. That's one of our challenges, and we're going to keep bodies on it and hopefully be able to put some more goals away."

 

Wahconah put 23 shots on Pittsfield keeper Lexi Swanson, who made some stellar stops along the way to limit the damage.

 

But in the 25th minute, Wahconah caught Swanson coming out off her line when Allison Washburn dribbled into the 18, kept possession past an advancing goalie and found Sadie Anderson for a wide-open look at the net.

 

Anderson converted to give Wahconah all the offense it needed.

 

But late in the first, Jilly Cote added insurance with a direct free kick from about 30 yards out that curled just under the crossbar and over Swanson to make it 2-0.

 

In the opening stages of the second half, Anderson sent a cross from deep on the left wing into the penalty area, where Maria Gamberoni finished to provide the final margin.

 

Wahconah is 4-1-1 in its last six games, a stretch that includes a 0-0 tie against 2017 Western Mass Division 3 semi-finalist Monson.

 

The challenge now is to try to maintain that momentum until Wahconah's next game: Oct. 10 against currently undefeated Monument Mountain.

 

"I'd rather stay a little more close with games than to have such a big gap," Smith said. "But we're going to go into practice, and we're going to keep pushing, trying some new things and hopefully come out strong on the 10th. We're just going try to keep it so we don't get dry."

 

"We'd like to keep it closer without the huge gap, but we'll deal with what we've got."

 

Pittsfield (1-6-1) goes to West Springfield on Wednesday.