Tierney's Two Goals Help Pittsfield Stay Alive
PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- The playoffs came early for the Pittsfield girls soccer team this fall.
And on Thursday, the Generals answered the call.
Molly Tierney scored two goals, and Hayley Tobin stopped seven shots in a 2-0 win over Mount Greylock at Kirvin Park.
Pittsfield High snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 4-9-3 overall but also 1-2-3 in the Berkshire County North -- tied for second with both Hoosac Valley and Wahconah, a half game ahead of Mount Greylock (2-4-1).
The Mounties, at 9-5-2 overall with one game left, Monday at Hoosac Valley, already know they are in the playoffs by virtue of having a .500 record or better.
Pittsfield, Hoosac (5-4-5), Wahconah (6-6-4) each are up in the air. Hoosac is at Wahconah on Saturday evening, and Wahconah hosts Pittsfield on Monday. Whichever of those three ends up second in the league (or .500) gets into the Western Mass tournament.
Monument Mountain (10-2-5, 5-0-2) has a stranglehold on first place.
“We're taking it one game at a time,” Pittsfield coach Andy Waluszko said. “We know we have to win out to make it into the tournament. It was a good showing by us today. We moved the ball really well, we scored early and we defended really well.
“When we're playing the West Sides, we give up an early goal, and we get down. The West Springfields and teams like that are really strong.
“The first goal today got us going.”
The Generals scored on a counter up the middle in the 10th minute when Lizzie Swanson set up Tierney with a through ball.
The early goal energized Pittsfield and did a little to wake up Mount Greylock, which started sluggish after battling to a 2-1 loss at Monument and a 1-1 tie against Wahconah in its last two outings.
The Mounties started the game in a bit of a hole when they had to scratch sophomore sniper Madison Ross (eight goals, six assists), who has been battling a hip injury that kept her off the field for a few games earlier this season.
“We can't keep transitioning from having her to not having her,” Mount Greylock coach Tom Ostheimer said. “And then we lost [senior] Maia Hirsch in the back, and that changes our back line. It changes our forward line.
“I thought we got good play from Livia Morales up front; she's an eighth-grader. And I thought we got good play from Talia Cappadona up front.
“But we just had to move people around.”
Pittsfield doubled its lead in the 44th minute.
Julia Eline-Wright received the ball at the top of the 18 and sent it hard toward the goal. Tierney redirected the shot past a diving Isabella Nicastro (10 saves).
Pittsfield’s first divisional win of the season could not have come at a more crucial time, but the Generals know they have their work cut out. The good news: They own one of just two league points given up by Monument Mountain this season.
“We know we have to win. Monument on Saturday will be a tough game, a typical North game,” Waluszko said. “But I told the girls, it's like any given day in the North, anybody can beat anybody.
“Everyone is so bunched up in the North. If we all finish second, I guess we're all in.”