Mount Greylock Pulls Away in Second Half of Quarter-Final
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Once the Mount Greylock boys lacrosse team Friday stopped putting the ball on the ground, it put plenty of goals on the scoreboard.
Michael Wellspeak scored five goals, Reilly Parker had six assists, and the Mounties overcame an early case of the drops to drop St. Bernard’s, 14-7, in the Central/Western Massachusetts Division 3 quarter-finals.
The first 18 minutes of the game were a back-and-forth affair with the sixth-seeded Saints (13-9) taking a 4-3 lead with 6 minutes, 11 seconds left before half-time.
“At the end of the day, the first quarter and the second quarter, we committed a lot of turnovers,” Mount Greylock coach Jeff Stripp said. “That’s what kept the game close. We cleaned up that portion of our game, and I think we did just fine.”
With just fewer than five minutes left in the first-half, David Falk (five saves) made a stop on a point-blank shot to keep it a one-goal game, and his pass out of the crease led to a series of connections that ended with Parker setting up Alex Falk for the equalizer.
Parker fed Taylor Cummings a moment later to give the Mounties a 5-4 lead at half-time.
“We did make adjustments,” Stripp said of the half-time session. “I credit the coaching staff that we have on the sideline. We made tweaks and changes -- very simple stuff, but I think it made a difference.”
Third-seeded Mount Greylock (18-1) opened extended its run to 5-0 with three straight goals to open the second half.
Patrick Storie (two goals, two assists) set up Kyle Bazonski midway through the third to get the second-half scoring started.
“I thought the biggest contribution we got came from Kyle Bazonski,” Stripp said. “He did it on the defensive side in faceoff circle and in some offensive sets as well. I was really proud of what he contributed to the team today.”
Bazonski finished with two goals. Taylor Cummings had a hat trick, and Thomas Astle set up one goal.
In next week’s Central/Western Mass semi-finals, Mount Greylock will travel to face the winner of Sunday’s game between second-seeded Nipmuc (17-2) and No. 7 Pope Francis (11-10).