Pittsfield Opens with Win over Central
PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Ray Lynch scored four times, and eight different players found the back of the net for Pittsfield in a 14-3, season-opening win over Springfield Central on Tuesday at Berkshire Community College.
Cameron LaFerriere had a hat trick, and Hunter Christman made three stops to earn the win between the pipes as the new-look Generals got the season going in the right direction.
“We’ve had a lot of new guys this year,” Pittsfield coach J. Noah Tullock said. “We’ve got more new guys than returning guys.
“We really had questions about how we would be. And it was good to see us have balanced contributions. Last year, a lot of our goals came from Ray Lynch and Mitchell Manning. But today I feel like it was really evenly distributed.”
LaFerriere scored the season’s first goal in transition in the second minute of the game on BCC’s Gene Dellea Field. Less than a minute later, LaFerriere scored from about 10 yards out on the right wing to make it 2-0.
After a goal from Lynch, Central got on the board with a man-up goal to make it 3-1.
But Lynch scored again, and Brayden Bishop scored on the man advantage to give Pittsfield a 5-1 lead.
“It is good to see us moving the ball more and utilizing more of our team,” Tullock said.
It stayed a four-goal margin after one quarter despite Pittsfield compiling a 9-2 advantage in shots on goal. Central keeper Vernon Charles made four of his 10 saves in the first 12 minutes of play.
Pittsfield pushed its margin to eight goals by half-time, getting four goals from four different players in the second.
The Generals completed a seven-goal run in the first minute of the second half when Javon Jones scored to make it 10-1.
The second half was a little more even from there, with Kyle Pickering scoring twice for Central.
But Pittsfield still compiled a 9-4 advantage in shots on net, and it finished the game with a 3-0 run on goals from Brennan Peyre, Lynch and Julius Pierce.
Pittsfield’s schedule gets a little rougher after the opener. It is scheduled to host Hoosac Valley on Thursday before taking on reigning Western Mass champ Lenox on Tuesday.
“I think this was a great way to start the season,” Tullock said. “I’m grateful that this was our first game and allowed us to see what we have and understand some of the weaker aspects of our game.
“It’s going to be uphill as far as the competition goes. We have a lot stronger schedule this year being in Class B instead of the Class C we were in last year. It’s going to be a challenge, and I think this was a good way to see what we have to work on.”