Mount Greylock Girls Top Drury to Go to 2-0
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – Three different players scored for the Mount Greylock girls soccer team Monday as the Mounties extended a 14-game home winning streak with a 3-0 win over Drury.
Lily McDermott provided all the offense her team needed when she completed a run up the middle of the field for a goal in the third minute of play on John T. Allen Field.
It looked at that point that the Mounties (2-0) would be off to the races as a team.
But Drury keeper Brooke Bishop made 10 of her 16 saves in the first half to limit the damage and keep the Blue Devils in the game until midway through the second.
“If Brooke wasn’t in the net, it probably would have been double or triple [the score],” Drury coach Syid Uqdah said. “They had a lot of shots. I think she had two that she tipped right over the bar, a couple on the side she made.
“It’s only two games in, but she’s a rock in there. She kept us in it.”
Mount Greylock coach Tom Ostheimer agreed.
“She played phenomenally,” he said. “She’s a great keeper. Any sort of high ball we played from outside – even some of our shots. We were trying to go low, trying to go low to make her work for a far post shot.
“But she was really strong. And she came out of the net beautifully and took a lot of our through balls right away.”
At the other end, Drury (0-2) could not get into the final third with any regularity until the final stages of the game, when the Blue Devils already trailed by three.
After McDermott’s second goal of the year, the Mounties kept the pressure on most of the first half, finally cashing in in the 36th minute when Lucy McWeeny converted Lexi Politis’ second assist of the afternoon.
Nora Lopez sent a cross into the 18 from the right wing that Politis touched back to McWeeny. She dribbled through two defenders before firing a shot low into the corner of the goal past a diving Bishop.
Midway through the second half, Lopez started another scoring play, this time with a corner kick from the left wing. Gabriella Nicastro ended up one-timing the ball in traffic for the second goal of her ninth-grade campaign.
“This was our first match [at home], and the girls were really excited to play against Drury, and, not only Drury but, I thought, a very good team,” Ostheimer said. “They gave us our money’s worth. They played a physical, aggressive game. They made us work.
“We got some good play out of our seniors. Lily McDermott got a goal. Alexa Politis got two assists. And Gigi [Nicastro], who works and works and works, she got an unassisted goal.”
Mai O’Connor and Olivia Eakin split time in the Mount Greylock goal, combining to make three saves.
Bishop continued to see most of the action in her end in the second half, but Drury’s defense was able to cut down on the Mounties’ shots on goal after half-time.
“They finally started to communicate more,” Uqdah said. “We switched up with the line a little bit, moved players around. Got a lot of players uncomfortable in situations. But that’s soccer. In soccer, you have to know how to play every position to effective, I think.”
The Blue Devils (0-2) will continue a rugged stretch to open the season with games against Wahconah and Monson to finish the week. Uqdah said games like Monday’s will prepare his squad for challenges to come.
“Hopefully, the girls learn from it and build a little bit on the positives,” he said. “But I will stress all the negatives we did, that’s just part of the game. You can’t go positive only. You have to show them what they did wrong in order to improve.
“We only get stronger from all the mistakes. We have to eliminate our mistakes in practice and bring it to the field for games.”
Mount Greylock’s next game is Friday at home against Springfield Central, a game rescheduled from earlier this season.