Charon, Hoosac Valley Storm Past Lee in Fourth Quarter
CHESHIRE, Mass. -- Karyssa Charon scored three times in a six-goal Hoosac Valley run to open the fourth quarter as the Hurricanes broke open a close game and went on to a 12-8 win over Lee.
It was back-and-forth throughout the first three quarters with neither team leading by more than two goals and 6-6 with 12 minutes, 30 seconds left to play.
But Charon converted an Emma Meczywor assist in the opening moments of the fourth to give Hoosac Valley a lead it never relinquished.
Charon scored again four minutes into the quarter when she intercepted a defensive clear and took an unmarked shot on Lee’s keeper.
Charon set up Meczywor for a goal about a minute later. Midway through the period, Meczywor scored with help from Ashlyn Lesure before Charon made it 11-6. Lauren Davis (four goals) capped the scoring to give Hoosac Valley a commanding six-goal lead with a few minutes left to play.
“I thought we were kind of flat to start, especially coming off of Greylock the other day when I thought we upped our level of play,” Hoosac Valley coach Molly Meczywor said. “So I challenged them that we needed someone to be that spark.
“I thought Sam Loholdt really did that for us defensively for us today. She won a bunch of ground balls, had a bunch of outlet passes in transition, which I thought was the spark to that great series of goals.”
That run gave Charon a team-high five goals and gave the Hurricanes their second win this season against the Wildcats, who lost by just one goal the first time they played in Lee.
“I think one of the problems was we weren’t covering their cutters well,” Lee coach Dave Galisa said of the fourth-quarter breakdown. “And then we had a couple of shooting space violations on us. Between the two of those, that kind of hurt us. And once they got the momentum, we called a timeout hoping to break it, but it didn’t work quite as well as we had hoped.”
Lee trailed twice in a low-scoring first half but both times answered to tie it.
At the start of the second quarter, Brianna Kelly found the net to make it 2-2. Then, after Hoosac Valley went ahead on a Davis free position tally, Molly Macchi (six goals) scored with two minutes left in the half to send the teams into the break tied, 3-3.
Lee would have led if not for eight first-half saves by Hoosac Valley senior keeper Emily Godfrey, who ended up with 11 saves and the win on Senior Day.
“Emily has kept us in every single game,” coach Meczywor said. “We work really hard with her in practice about footwork and wrists and speed and stuff like that. And Emily is the type of player who listens. She wants to get better. She’s a great kid to coach because she’s always asking really good questions, and it shows here.
“We have great leaders. Emily is a captain, Lauren Davis is a captain, Karyssa [Charon]. They’ve just really stepped up and done a great job for a young team.
The scoring pace picked up in the third. Charon scored to give Hoosac Valley a 6-4 lead, but Kelly put one in the net for Lee and Macchi scored on a free position to tie it up going to the fourth.
Lee (0-5) will look for its elusive first win on Monday when it hosts Mount Greylock on Tuesday. Hoosac Valley (2-3) hosts Pittsfield on Tuesday.