Holyoke Keeper Holds Pittsfield at Bay in Tourney Opener

PITTSFIELD, Mass. - The No. 8 Pittsfield girls soccer team fell to No. 9 Holyoke, 2-1, Thursday afternoon at Kirvin Park.

The shot totals could make you question the outcome as the Generals totaled 29 to Holyoke's 9.

But Holyoke goalie Kelly Cavanaugh kept her team alive to go on to the next round of the Western Mass Division 1 Tournament.

"She's really the key to our success and to getting us into the tournament," Holyoke coach Kevin Roberts said." She's amazing and comes up so many times with big saves."

The Generals' attack came out strong from the start and controlled the entire first half. They just had trouble putting the ball on net past Cavanaugh.

Holyoke was able to capitalize on a first half try from freshman Ada Torres to give the Purple Knights a 1-0 advantage at half-time.

Ilana Albert for Pittsfield saw several second half opportunities; she was finally able to put them on the board after going down 2-0.

Albert went one-on-one one with Cavanaugh with 16 minutes to go and finished to put the Generals down one and to give them momentum. 

"We put a lot of pressure on after she got that goal," Pittsfield coach Andy Waluszko said. "When she got that goal we had already switched out formation to 3-4-3 so we were really pushing the offense."

Holyoke took the 2-0 lead with 25 minutes remaining after Jamie Robert pulled Pittsfield goalie Allie Hunt off her line; she lofted a shot that hit the cross bar and bounced in.

Pittsfield saw a few direct kicks in the final minutes of the game; on in particular that came after Lindsney Schnopp broke away up the field and her shirt was pulled just at the 18 with 2 minutes to go.

Albert set up for the kick shooting it on net but shot far left missing the goal.

"We had tons of opportunities; we just didn't finish, we couldn't get it in the goal," Waluszko said. "Their keeper came up very big on some shots and some shots we should have made, but we hit it right at her."

More photos of this game here.