Lily McDermott Scores Four in Mount Greylock Girls' Win
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- For a long time, it looked like Lily McDermott’s goal in the fifth minute was all that the Mount Greylock girls soccer team would be able to get against Westfield Tech on Monday night.
But the Mounties exploded for six more scores in the span of 25 minutes to roar into the Class C Western Massachusetts semi-finals with a 7-0 win.
McDermott accounted for four of those goals and set up another. The sophomore had a natural hat trick to start the second half and run her team-leading goal total to 16 this fall as Mount Greylock won its fourth straight and set up a rematch with Drury in the regional semis on Wednesday night.
When McDermott scored with an assist from Lucy Igoe in the opening stages, it looked like Mount Greylock was going to run up big numbers. But those numbers did not start coming until she set up Livia Morales nearly 30 minutes later.
“I think we just had to take a deep breath and work really getting it to feet and working as a team, and it worked out,” McDermott said. “You can’t win a game with only one player, so we all worked our best.”
All seven of Mount Greylock’s goals were assisted, including a pretty header by Jake Skavlem off a Morales corner kick in the closing moments of the first half to make it 3-0.
That bulge allowed the Mounties to breath a little easier at half-time, but the lack of finishing most of the half was a concern for Mount Greylock coach Tom Ostheimer.
“It takes us a little while to get into the flow, and we’re kind of forcing the issue on the offense,” he said. “We’re just struggling to put it in the back of the net, and that’s been a common problem this season: outplaying a team and it not resulting in anything.
“Once we got that second goal, it seemed like we loosened up and got into the flow. It’s almost like we’re overthinking things.”
WTA keeper Lindsey DeLand had a hand in frustrating Mount Greylock’s offense. She finished the night with 13 saves.
But there was no defending McDermott in the second half, when she scored three times in 10 minutes to push Mount Greylock’s lead to 6-0.
After the sixth goal, Ostheimer started getting his starters out of the game, but Morales scored from 25 yards out with an assist from Igoe to cap the scoring in the 56th minute.
At the other end of the field, Mount Greylock keeper Mai O’Connor had a quiet night, coming off her line to play a few passes back from her teammates but not needing to make a save to pick up the shutout win.
The Mounties figure to face a little more pressure on Wednesday night against the Blue Devils, who earned a 2-1 win over Mount Greylock in the regular season and advanced on Monday night with an 8-0 win over Smith Voc.
“We’re excited,” McDermott said of the prospect for a rematch. “We’re ready. We’re going to try our best.”