Falk Backstops Mounties Past Wahconah
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- David Falk was lights out under the lights on Thursday for the Mount Greylock boys lacrosse team.
The Mounties keeper stopped 14 shots in a 9-5 win over Wahconah.
That’s a save percentage of .737. To put that in perspective, the nation’s top collegiate keeper, Massachusetts’ Sean Sconone, posts a save percentage of .629.
And while Falk probably won’t put up those kind of numbers over the course of a season, every one of his saves on Thursday night was needed -- especially the six he made in the third quarter alone.
“We missed David the first quarter of the season, so we’re psyched that he’s back,” Mount Greylock coach Jeff Stripp said. “He’s responded really well. He’s one of our leaders. He did amazing tonight. I can’t wait to watch the tape and see what it looked like.”
That tape also will show Taylor Cummings recording a natural hat trick in that third quarter to push a 4-2 half-time lead to a five-goal margin.
Cummings finished with four goals on the night, and Michael Wellspeak had a hat trick as well.
Wellspeak’s three goals all came in a 4-0 first quarter for Mount Greylock.
The Mounties, who two days earlier scored 12 of their 18 goals in the second half at Lee, had a much different start this time around.
“It’s something that we try to work on,” Stripp said. “I think any team wants to start strong. These guys responded. They executed what we came out to do in the first quarter. I’m proud of ‘em.”
Wellspeak scored the game’s first goal in the third minute. He added a second unassisted goal on a man advantage two minutes later. Sean Malloy made it 3-0 with an assist from Mac Waynick with 7 minutes, 14 seconds left in the quarter, and Wellspeak closed the opening run with 5:53 left in the quarter.
But Wahconah recovered after the early troubles and scored twice in the second quarter to get back in the game.
First, Matt Mathers set up Ernie Lampron to get the visitors on the board midway through the period. Then, with 12 seconds left until half-time, Dayton Kozlowski scored in transition on a man advantage to make it 4-2.
Cummings started the second half by converting a Waynick assist with a bounce shot that got by Dom Orlandi (nine saves).
Cummings added two more goals while Falk held Wahconah’s attackers at bay.
“We were missing six, seven, eight of our players for the first four games, so having everyone back has really upped the energy,” Falk said. “Having [defender Will Reynolds] in front of you, even if he doesn’t make the play, you know that whoever he’s defending is going to be scared out of their minds. And he makes hte play like 98 percent of the time.
“So he’s the best of both worlds. A lot of confidence he instills.”
Wahconah finally broke through for a pair of goals in a five-second span late in the third. First, Mathers came out from behind the goal and slipped a shot past Falk. Then Kozlowski won the ensuing faceoff and set up Dart Jaggi for a quick score to make it 7-4 going to the fourth.
The Mounties got goals from Kyle Trottier and Cummings to re-establish their five-goal lead before Kozlowski netted his second of the game late in the quarter.
Wahconah (7-1) will look to start another winning streak on Tuesday when it hosts Stratton, Vt.
Mount Greylock (4-2) goes to Bennington, Vt., to play Mount Anthony on Saturday.