Furlong's Late Game-Winner Lifts Wahconah at Mount Greylock
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Two really good teams. Two close games. Two late scores on scrambles in the box.
And another 2-1 win for the Wahconah girls soccer team.
Noelle Furlong knocked home a rebound off Mount Greylock keeper Delaney Babcock on a soggy John T. Allen Field to give Wahconah a season sweep of the Mounties on Thursday afternoon.
"We just had a lot of energy once they got their goal," Furlong said. "We knew we had to get one. And I feel like whenever we shoot it, we have everyone crash the box.
"There were like five people who touched it before me ... including the goalie. I feel bad. I may have stepped on her face. But we just had everyone crash the box. We wanted to get it in the back of the net."
Furlong's game-winner came with fewer than four minutes to play and about three minutes after Mount Greylock tied the game on a Livia Morales goal.
The last time the two teams met, Hannah Bowlby scored with fewer than two minutes to play to complete a comeback win for Wahconah.
"It's exactly like the first game, except they got their goal first in the first game," Furlong said. "It's always a good game when we play them. They're always one of our best games."
And Babcock showed why she is among the top keepers in the county again on Thursday, making 10 saves, including two on the sequence that led to the game-winning play.
"They countered quickly all day long," Mount Greylock coach Tom Ostheimer said. "We turned the ball over midfield, and then they countered on us, and they had numbers in the box.
"It was a weird scramble. You thought we were going to get out of it. Delaney tips it, hits the post, dives back and makes a great save, and usually, that ends it. They were in the right place. They filled the box, and they banged it home."
The first half was scoreless but not without chances. The best couple came in the opening moments for Wahconah, which earned the game's first shot on goal and had a dangerous shot from Olivia Gamberoni on the left wing that sailed just high of the crossbar.
Gamberoni did break through midway through the second half, drilling a shot from the left wing from about 30 yards into the far corner of the goal to make it 1-0.
Anchored by Jilly Cote, the Wahconah defense did not give up many scoring opportunities at the other end, and Kelly Anderson turned aside four that reached the goal.
But in the 73rd minute, Mount Greylock converted a corner kick to level the score.
Clara McWeeny entered the ball from the left wing corner, and it found Olivia Morales in the middle of the 6. Morales one-timed it home to make it 1-1.
Moments later, another Mount Greylock corner, this one from the right wing, led to a shot on goal from McWeeny, but Anderson grabbed the ball to keep the game tied and set the stage for Furlong's game-winner.
Mount Greylock (6-2) is scheduled to host Pittsfield on Tuesday. Wahconah (6-0-1) hosts Lee on Tuesday.