Brazeau Leads Pittsfield Past McCann Tech
PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- Jacob Brazeau scored seven goals, and the Pittsfield boys lacrosse team used a 7-0 second-quarter run en route to a 20-8 win over McCann Tech on Wednesday.
The visiting Hornets started the second quarter with a Darian Tovani goal to trim Pittsfield’s lead to 5-4.
From there it was all Generals, who took an eight-goal lead into half-time and never looked back
“Once we got our feet under us, we did OK,” Pittsfield coach Scott Aitken said. “My fear was we were letting them hang around. We have a tendency to let teams hang around. They were playing hard, the were taking nice shots. So it was good to pull away and have a little bit of breathing room.”
Brazeau got the run started with an assist from Logan Curtis to make it 6-4. Moments later, Sean Soper set up Shawn O’Shea in transition.
Justin LaBelle converted a Brazeau assist before Brazeau scored to make it 9-4.
James Kastrinzkis, O’Shea and Brazeau again scored before half-time to help Aitken breathe easy.
“We didn’t stop the bleeding,” McCann Tech coach Paul Lange said. “We talked about what we needed to do, defensively. … We’ve got to do more on offense, too. We’ve got to put the ball in the net and work our offense a little bit more, but those seven goals? I mean, you can’t blame the offense for that.
“We’ve got to step up a little bit more on defense.”
Whatever Lange said at half-time stuck because the Hornets played Pittsfield even in the third quarter, using a Jason Delisle goal and two more from Tovani to keep the margin at eight, 15-7, going to the final 12 minutes.
But Pittsfield pulled ahead with man-up goals from Brazeau and O’Shea to make it a 10-goal just 1 minute, 30 seconds into the fourth quarter and never looked back.
Cody Houghtaling made five saves for Pittsfield (2-5), which snapped a three-game losing streak with the victory. Big challenges await, though, starting with games against Wahconah in Dalton and Mount Greylock to kick off next week.
Aitken said Wednesday’s win can give the Generals a lift going into the second half of the season.
“Hopefully, they’ll come in with a little more confidence, a little more happiness,” he said. “They’ve been miserable for a while, not that the weather is helping either. Hopefully, they realize they can play when they want to play, that’s the big thing.”
This is the first year of a cooperative team between Pittsfield and Taconic, and there have been some growing pains in the early going.
“There’s some of that, figuring each other out,” Aitken said. “And some of it is just kids who haven’t played [lacrosse] in general. Then there’s the learning curve for the Taconic kids to learn my ways. I think they’re finally figuring that out, too.
“The future’s bright, we’ve got some young talent.”
McCann Tech also is optimistic about the future and this season, with leading scorer Darian Tovani, a junior, and keeper Keegan Dellaghelfa, a sophomore, who made seven first-half saves on Wednesday to help keep the Hornets within shouting distance.
One of the downsides on Wednesday -- other than the score -- was a rash of in-game injuries that hampered the Hornets.
“The injuries piled up,” Lange said. “I think our midfield is one of our strengths, and when our midfielders started going down, that affects our matchups. … I think midfield can be a big difference in the game, and when you start losing some of those guys, it’s a factor.”
McCann Tech (3-4) hosts Granby on Friday. Earlier this year, the Hornets picked up a 12-7 win at Granby.