Hoosac Valley Edges Mount Greylock, Secures Outright County Title
CHESHIRE, Mass. -- The Hoosac Valley girls lacrosse team allowed foul goals in the first four minutes to fall in a 4-0 hole on Monday afternoon.
Then the Hurricanes let in just six goals the rest of the way.
Brooke DiGennaro scored five goals, and Emily Godfrey made eight saves as Hoosac Valley beat Mount Greylock, 11-10, to complete an unbeaten Berkshire County League campaign for the first time in the program’s history.
After the Mounties stunned Hoosac by storming out to a big lead, the ‘Canes regrouped to win their third straight and an outright league crown -- also a first for the school.
“In this game today, I think our defense was huge,” Hoosac Valley coach Molly Meczywor said. “I thought they did a fantastic job of winning a lot of ground balls. And then we got into that quick transition, which is our strength. Our game plan is we move the ball quickly, because of that.
“Cairragan [Greene] and Faith [Hall], I don’t think they get enough credit as our D-wings. They just battle. They’re tough kids, and they’re very unselfish.
“Overall, the second half was a good half.”
The first half belonged to the Mounties, who got off to that quick start.
Claire Sheedy scored twice, and Carolyn Jones scored an unassisted goal in the first three minutes to put the Mounties up, 3-0. After a Hoosac Valley timeout, the Canes controlled the ensuing draw, but Jayden Johnson made one of her eight first-half saves at the other end to get the ball back for Mount Greylock.
At 4 minutes, 50 seconds into the game, Brook Masse scored on a rebound to make it a four-goal margin.
“I think they were ready to the play in the beginning, and I think we caught Hoosac by surprise a little bit after they did so well against us the first time,” Mount Greylock coach Lindsey von Holtz said. “Then, unfortunately, I think it was just a few too many missed passes, missed ground balls that gave Hoosac the opportunity.
“Then, when it became a running game, Hoosac is fast, and it was a little hard to keep up after a while. But, I think they worked hard from beginning to end. I think they, once again, showed that once you get behind, it’s it’s not over. They kept working to the end.”
The Mounties led throughout the first half, but Hoosac Valley closed the gap with three goals by DiGennaro and a transition goal from Alie Mendel (two goals, three assists) to make it a 5-4 margin at the break.
DiGenarro tied it in the second minute of the second half with an unassisted goal after driving from the right wing. And Mendel set her moments later as Hoosac Valley took its first lead at 6-5.
The teams then traded goals until eighth-grader Lauren Davis broke the game’s final tie, scooping up a ground ball and scoring to give Hoosac Valley the lead for good at 8-7.
The Hurricanes went ahead by as many as three goals twice, the second time when Mendel scored with 4:18 on the clock to make it 11-8.
But as it did last week at Wahconah Mount Greylock kept fighting, getting a pair of goals from Jones in the last three minutes. She appeared to get a third goal on a free position with just less than two minutes on the clock, but the Mounties were whistled for a sphere violation on the play, negating the goal.
Emily Godfrey made eight saves for the Hurricanes, including five in the second half. The Hurricanes (16-1) have one more regular season game left, Thursday at Chicopee Comp. Then it is on to the post-season with one big regular-season goal fulfilled.
“In 2013, we won one game, and the next year, we won two games, and it was with Alie and Claudia [Bresett] and Chloe [Martel], and then next year, we picked up Kelsey [Bulson] and Paige [Barrow], so those are those girls who have, you know, gotten beaten by Greylock, 20-0,” Meczywor said. “I think that they’re invested for that vision. At the very beginning, they said they wanted to be county champs.
“And they just really have been invested. It’s a lot of endurance, a lot of hard work. A lot of keeping a big senior class focused, which, you know, isn’t easy coming into Senior Week. But, all in all, it feels pretty special to do it with this group that has taken its lumps for so long.”
Mount Greylock (7-10) is in the postseason by virtue of its second place finish in the county. The Mounties have one more chance to improve their seed when they host Chicopee Comp on Tuesday.