Hoosac Valley Girls Rally Past Wahconah
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- A back-and-forth girls lacrosse battle between Wahconah and Hoosac Valley appeared to be going the Hurricanes’ way on Friday night when Claudia Bresett found the back of the net with must more than seven minutes left to play.
It appeared that the senior captain had capped a two-goal rally to give Hoosac Valley a 5-5 tie.
But after a stick check, the referees determined that the pocket was too deep in Bresett’s stick, and the goal was disallowed.
“It made me pretty made and made me want to work even harder and score more, which we did,” Bresett said moments after scoring the game-winner of the Hurricanes’ 6-5, season opening win over their Berkshire County rivals.
Alie Mendel ended up getting the tying goal, with 5 minutes, 53 seconds left in regulation, when she notched her second goal of the game to make it 5-5.
Then, about a minute later, Bresset got the ball high on the left wing and sliced through the Wahconah defense before depositing the ball in the goal for the final score of the game.
“I don’t even remember what happened,” Bresset said with a laugh. “I was so excited. I don’t even know what was going on.
“We were just very excited as a team because in the [pre-season] jamboree, they beat us by a lot, so didn’t expect to have this close of a game. We knew we were going to have to work hard for it, which we did.”
Less than a week after coming up short against Wahconah in the preseason scrimmage, Hoosac Valley came out strong on MCAL’s Shewcraft Field, scoring the game’s first three goals.
Bresett got things started by converting an assist from Lauren Davis in the eighth minute. Nine minutes later, Mendel set up Karyssa Charon with a crossing pass from the right wing.
The third goal came off the stick of Mendel, who was set up by Brooke DiGennaro.
Chloe Accardi (three goals) got Wahconah on the goal with about three minutes left in the first half to make it a 3-1 game at the break.
Accardi scored twice more in a 4-0 Wahconah run to open the second half.
Her free position goal with 18:52 on the clock gave the visitors a 5-3 lead.
Five minutes later, DiGennaro scored off a pass from Bresett in transition to get Hoosac Valley within one, setting the stage for Mendel’s tying goal and Bresett’s game-winner.
There were plenty of heroes for Hoosac in this one.
“I think that’s what’s characterized our program, especially with Chloe [Martel] and Alie [Mendel] and Claudia [Bresett] -- those guys starting six years ago -- is their grit,” Hoosac Valley coach Molly Meczywor said. “The last four minutes of the game, there were a bunch of groundballs that, if we don’t come up with them, it’s a different story.
“So I think our hard work, our physicality, was the difference at the end. Obviously, I’m happy, because [Wahconah] is a good team.”
Emily Godfrey made five first-half saves to backstop the Hoosac Valley defense.
Sydney Smith made 12 saves for Wahcoah (0-1), which goes to Lee next Friday.
Hoosac Valley is at Pittsfield on Friday.